Madison didn’t like the fact that the railroad would be in control of their means of transportation, but she had no choice. To raise a stink about something so trivial would take away from her ability to raise much more important objections later.
After Madison and Benjamin buckled into their small chariot, one of Bartz’s men walked over to Madison and handed her some documents. “Lord Bartz would like to discuss the enclosed modifications to the Developer Rights Amendment, ma’am.”
“Well, this should be interesting,” she replied with a mock smile, and took the documents. Madison could see that other lords were handed similar-looking documents in their chariots.
The chariot pulled out, and they made their way through the Seeville streets toward the stadium. She opened the package and began looking over the material. Annoyingly, changes to the document weren’t shown, so she would have to scan over the entire amendment to find out what was different. She split the packet with Benjamin so they could make the best use of their time.
Madison had a tendency to get nauseous when reading and riding, especially on bumpy rides like this one. She had to be careful to not fully immerse herself in the document for more than a minute at a time. It would do no good if she showed up at the inspection with vomit on her blouse.
On West Main Street, they passed a man yelling out into the street. Bikers and pedestrians slowed down to hear what he was saying. “The demonstration will begin in fifteen minutes, brought to you by Seeville & Raleigh Railroad operations. Come one, come all to the old UVA stadium. Prudent progress, real freedom—come and see for yourself…”
There was more, but they were now out of earshot.
Madison leaned forward. “What’s this all about, this demonstration?” she asked the mules that were pedaling her chariot.
“Don’t know, ma’am. We were only told to get you to the stadium.”
Madison looked over at Benjamin. He shook his head. She looked back and saw that additional bikes were falling in line behind the column of chariots.
She was beginning to get a sinking feeling. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but Bartz seemed too ready, too prepared for this outcome. And this “demonstration” added to the uncertainty.
As they entered the old university grounds, more and more bikes fell in line. They had to slow down because of the traffic.
“Um, ma’am,” Benjamin said. “I just found one of the changes.” He passed a few pages over to Madison and pointed to a particular paragraph.
She read it carefully. “Ha,” she laughed. “Well, they have some gall.” She gave the pages back to Benjamin. “See if you can find anything else. With these tired old eyes and this weak stomach unfortunately I can’t be of much use.”
“Yes ma’am.” Benjamin continued to pore through the document.
When they turned onto Alderman Avenue, the chariot started to wobble and came to a stop. The mules dismounted their bikes and looked at one of the tires.
“Sorry ma’am, we have a problem with one of the wheels. It’ll just be a few minutes.”
Of course they did. Of course it would take a few minutes. They would arrive late, giving Bartz time with the other councilors.
“Come on, Benjamin. I need your help.”
Madison nearly stumbled as she pushed herself out of the chariot and began hobbling forward down the middle of the road as bikes wove around them precariously.
“Ma’am. It will just be a few minutes,” the railroad mule called after her. “If you could please stay in the chariot.”
“No, thank you,” she said, not looking back.
“Ma’am let me help you,” Benjamin said. He caught up with her and offered his arm. He also urged her to the side, so bikes could pass by more easily.
They made an awkward pair, her hobbling as fast as she could, leaning heavily on Benjamin’s arm. Many gawked, and some even called out rudely, telling her to get off the road. But this was better than putting her fate in the hands of these railroad men. This wobbly wheel couldn’t have been a coincidence. She doubted any of this was. She needed to get to the stadium as soon as possible to find out why.
When Madison and Benjamin finally arrived at the stadium, her neck was cramped, and she was sweating profusely. She took out a handkerchief to dry herself off.
Unlike most Old World stadiums, this one was built on a gradient, with a large portion dug deep into an incline. They had arrived at the highest elevation of the stadium, with access to some of the uppermost seats. You could even see down into the bottom of the stadium from parts of the roadway.
Enforcers were everywhere, keeping back the gathering crowd. One of them recognized her and motioned for them to follow through a checkpoint. This man escorted her and Benjamin to the column of bike chariots that brought the other lords. They were parked in a semicircle around an open parking area overlooking the stadium. The lords were all congregated on an adjoining large balcony separated from the burgeoning number of spectators populating the stands.
“Thank you, Benjamin. I will take it from here,” she said.
He released her arm. It would do no good for them to see her arrive in such a way.
“And the document, please.”
Benjamin handed her the document.
The balcony gave her a good vantage point to see the base of the stadium. The tarp and scaffolding had been removed from the structure being built, and only a few pieces of debris remained from the building effort. The structure itself looked to be no more than a giant cube made of cement-like material, with small circular indentations in the center of each side. In other words, it was only a hair less enigmatic than what it looked like with the tarp on.
“What is this nonsense?” Madison shook the document in her hand as she arrived to join the other councilors. “You can’t do this.”
She noticed Prakash and Kline look down sheepishly upon her arrival. Meeker gave her but a fleeting glance. Only Henneson could look her straight in the eye. His morose expression didn’t give her any comfort.
“I’m sorry, honorable Lord Banks,” Bartz said, smiling. “We will have to address this later. I am master of ceremonies here.” The railroad man named Thorpe was standing by Bartz. He handed him a bullhorn.
“Master of what ceremony?” Madison asked. No one answered her question. Bartz walked away and stood on a pulpit that extended into the stadium from their balcony.
“People of Seeville!” he said, crooning into the horn. Some people stopped and looked, others seemed to hurry to find seats. “I welcome you here today, an historic day. Many of you will have questions when we turn on our machine. Some of you may even be fearful. Do not fear. Trust in the prudent progress we are making. In the future it will become clear how transformative today will be, all because of our ingenuity and hard work. As long as we keep progressing, we can solve any problem, we can defend ourselves against any threat.”
Some of Bartz’s oration could be considered controversial. The use of words like “machine” were often shunned by the Adherents because it represented some form of heinous novation. Of course nobody had the faintest idea what was really going on, including Madison, so there would be no objection.
Bartz nodded to Thorpe. Thorpe, in turn, waved a green flag in the air. Down below, next to the cement cube, another green flag went up. In the distance, she could see a young man open a trap door that led down a staircase into the ground. The door closed firmly behind him.
A few moments later, a low rumble could be heard coming from the area. Slowly, a slim metal rod protruded through the ceiling of the cement cube, and at the end of it, a bright blue light came on.