Maragana Girl Ch. 21

The summer months following Kim's release would bring changes to Danube City. Foreign investors bought shares in the studio complex and soon the owners of several older buildings downtown began converting them to hotels and cafes for the increasing contingent of foreign technicians and music representatives. Following the music industry employees would be fans of the various groups and tourists interested in seeing the historical capitol of the Duchy. Within a very few years Upper Danubia was to become a major tourist destination in Central Europe. The arrival of the tourists and their money was the beginning of Vladim Dukov's hope that Upper Danubia could face the future and adapt to the world without surrendering what made the country so unique.

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The record company promoting "Socrates's Mistresses" had big plans for the group for the weeks following July 2. There was a scheduled international tour with a series of concerts in Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Athens, and finally Vienna. The schedule would allow the group to be back in Danube City in time for their university classes, but the original idea was to have the Warsaw concert on July 6 and the Berlin concert July 12. The band members were both excited and disappointed by the impending trip. The opportunity to travel excited the group, but at the same time any post-sentence vacations had to be cancelled. Many of the group's members had wanted to spend time with relatives outside Danube City and were distressed at the thought their musical careers would interfere with their family plans.

Kim was determined to travel back to the US for a couple of weeks with her sister Cindy to visit her parents. She also felt a trip to her former home would allow her to come to terms with her forfeited life as an American. Cindy planned to travel to Upper Danubia at the end of June and be present for Kim's de-collaring ceremony. After Kim was released from her sentence she wanted to spend time with her sister, and then travel to the United States to visit her hometown.

Kim decided not to allow anything to interfere with rebuilding her relationship with her sister and her parents. She had to have the two weeks following her release to herself. Kim, sitting next to Eloisa and the owner of the music store, put her foot down on what would be scheduled for July.

"Whatever else happens this summer, there's something I gotta to do. I have to go back to visit my parents for a couple of weeks, before I do anything else. I need to do that before I get married and change my citizenship, before I tour, before I record, before anything. I gotta go home for little bit, and try to figure out who I really am. Then, I'll be back, I'll tour, I'll sing, I'll do whatever we need to make Eloisa's music successful. But my going home for a couple of weeks is not negotiable."

Kim's own needs forced the group's company to alter its summer plans for "Socrates' Mistresses". The music company's representatives mulled over Kim's trip home, and decided Kim's return to the US would be a good opportunity for her to promote "Socrates' Mistresses" in the North American market. Ultimately there would be plans for the group to go on tour in the US the following year, during the summer when its members were not in class at the university. Kim's trip home would help lay some groundwork for next year's concerts, assuming she was willing to grant a couple of interviews.

The others in the group would be getting a vacation during the two weeks, time to spend with their families and getting used to being able to travel outside the collar zone. For Eloisa and her fiancée the two weeks would be a chance for their two families to travel together to the main resort at the Rika Chorna Reservoir and spend time getting to know each other better. Eloisa confided in Kim that she and her fiancée planned to announce their wedding plans at the summer retreat. The band's lead singer also confided to Kim that she wanted to make love in the forest and try to expand her sexual experiences.

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Malka Chorno continued with her exercise classes as the spring progressed. Her groups had stabilized into a regular crowd of hard-core students who were determined to get into top shape before they finished their sentences. Malka's sharp voice and sweaty body became a fixture in many lives, to the point that Malka had to start a third fitness section of her class and a second martial arts group. The owner of the Socrates Club installed some showers and a public bathroom in Malka's gym to accommodate her clients; a clear indication he expected Malka's service as a gym instructor to be long-term.

Malka began giving the idea of permanently being a criminal gym instructor some thought. She had discovered she really liked being a gym instructor much more than police work. Oddly enough, the ex-police officer had found herself among the Danubian criminal community, to the point she no longer identified with who she had been the year before. Malka finally decided to approach her Spokesman about a possible change of plans, wondering if the only way she could end her sentence would be to return to the Police Academy.

Dukov brought up Malka's case with the sentencing judge. Malka's sentence was a provisional sentence, which was not very common. However, Malka's case allowed for some flexibility. The judge surprised Dukov with his suggestion.

"I think...if she does not want to go back to being a police officer, she should remain a criminal. She seems to have found herself in that gym of hers, and I would like to see her continue her life as it is now. Here's what I'm willing to do. I will expect her to serve the full 18 years of her sentence, and if she wants to be a gym instructor, then I will expect her to fulfill that commitment she has made to her fellow criminals. She will keep her collar and the clothing restriction will remain in effect for her. However, I will ease two conditions of her sentence. I will re-classify her as a 'willingly repentant' criminal. Also, I'll have the transmitter removed from her collar so she can move about the country."

Dukov agreed to suggest re-classification to his client. Malka would remain a convicted criminal, but under much less restricted conditions. Malka gladly accepted the proposal. The reclassification allowed her to sever her final ties to her former life. She was, and would be for a very long time, a criminal and a gym instructor. The gym was her life, the very real contribution she could make to improve the lives of many people. Now it was official. There would be no turning back for Malka; she could look at herself as a gym instructor instead of a disgraced former police officer.

Malka knelt in court toward the end of May to be officially reclassified, as her Spokesman stood at her side. Once the sentencing judge read the changes he asked Malka if she had any comments or requests.

"Yes your honor, I do have one request. My boyfriend wants to become a police officer. If he is accepted to the Academy, I ask that he be assigned my badge number and wear the badge that used to be mine. I think that having my badge will serve him, because it will constantly remind him he needs to take his responsibilities seriously."

"Very well, Criminal # 99348, that is an easy-enough request to grant. The day your boyfriend receives your former badge, I will require him to stand before his fellow cadets and explain the significance of that badge to his peers. I think that will be a good lesson to both him and to his fellow police officers."

Malka then knelt before the judge's desk to allow the collar technician to remove her transmitter. Once the transmitter was off the technician removed the steel ring from her collar and replaced it with a brass ring. The brass ring officially marked Malka as a "willingly repentant" criminal.

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During the entire month of May, Spokesman Dukov spent almost every free moment of his time in his library. He returned home from work, had dinner with his family, and then retreated to his study and to a new computer he recently had purchased. He spent his time looking through a vast pile of history books stacked by his desk or typing furiously. He was driven, in a way he never had been driven before, to speak to the Danubian nation through his writing.

Starting May 15, the Spokesman began publishing a series of political opinion columns in the Danube City Post, which was the Duchy's most important newspaper. Dukov's readers expected him to discuss his ideas about criminals and their place in Danubian society, but he ignored that topic altogether. Instead Dukov wrote about his broader concerns for the Duchy's society and his vision for Upper Danubia's future.

During the two years Kim served her sentence for marijuana possession, there were two major political movements represented in the Danubian Parliament. There was the conservative ruling Party of the Duchy, which argued that Upper Danubia had to defend its traditions at all costs and shut out the outside world. The opposition was led by the Greater Danubian Progressive Party, which vehemently argued that Upper Danubia's society was a failed relic of the Middle Ages and that the country needed to modernize as quickly as possible, taking the good with the bad and becoming like the rest of the world. Dukov responded in his columns that neither approach served the country's best interests.

Dukov argued the Duchy's peaceful society was under tremendous threat from the outside world, in particular from globalization. In his writings the Spokesman compared Upper Danubia's current situation to the crisis which faced the country in the early 1500's, when the Ottoman Empire and the Counter-Reformation threatened to completely destroy Danubian society. The Kingdom of Danubia at beginning of the 16th Century was much larger then it was in modern times, and its nobility was confident it could be successfully defended against the growing threats posed by the Turks and the new Holy Roman Emperor. In the end Danubia did manage to survive and maintain its independence, but only because the country had a king who was smart enough to know that not everything in under his rule could be saved. There were some very difficult choices and national sacrifices that only one man, King Vladik the Bastard, seemed to realize were necessary.

The rest was history that every Danubian learned in school. Before Ottoman armies invaded from the neighboring country to the south, King Vladik ordered the southern half of his kingdom to completely evacuate. He essentially abandoned all of the fertile lands of Lower Danubia to the invaders without a fight, realizing his army was no match for the heavily armed Ottoman armies. As the invaders poured across the abandoned and burnt lands of Lower Danubia, the kingdom's subjects retreated to the part of the kingdom their ruler felt he could defend, the valleys of Upper Danubia that were protected by thick forests. He ordered his knights to melt their armor into weapons that could be easily carried over long distances and used at close quarters, bought smaller, faster horses for his soldiers, and hired bandits to teach his troops how to live in the forest for extended periods of time.

The king made his stand in the woods that separated Upper and Lower Danubia, with the goal of protecting the lives of his citizens, not protecting land or property. He won the first battle against the Turks in the forests, after a savage and protracted campaign of ambushes, raids, and traps. The following year King Vladik faced another invasion from a Christian army coming in from the Holy Roman Empire led by religious fanatics who saw the Danubians as heretics and pagans. The Papal Army was routed even worse than the Turks; very few of its soldiers even making it out of Upper Danubia alive.

There were a total of six invasions over a 25-year period, none of which ended successfully for the attackers. Danubia adapted, changed, and survived. What could not be saved was discarded. Among the things that could not be saved were the farmlands and manors of Lower Danubia. That was the sacrifice King Vladik had to make to save Upper Danubia. After he was killed in battle during the sixth and final invasion, King Vladik the Bastard was remembered as King Vladik the Defender and revered by his subjects.

Dukov's history lesson had implications for the present. Upper Danubia could jump into the global economy with no consideration of the social consequences, it could try to ignore the outside world and ultimately fail, or the nation could face and adapt to the over-all threat. Dukov argued that a rational modernization plan tailored to the Danubian social values would allow the Duchy to enter the 21st Century in a way that would cause minimal disruption to the country's society.

"We stand in the shoes of King Vladik. The Ottoman and the Holy Roman Imperial armies are fast approaching our lands. We can hide and pretend they are not coming, we can surrender our souls to the invaders and change our identity, or we can face the future and determine where the new boundary between Upper Danubia and Lower Danubia is located. Our task is to save Upper Danubia, yet again, by determining what we as a society can keep and what we must abandon. The goal is to maintain ourselves as a people and as a society. No matter what decisions we make, we must ensure there will be a Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia to pass to our grandchildren."

Dukov's columns caused a sensation, because they put into words the thoughts of many Danubian citizens. Dukov gave a coherent voice to the majority of Upper Danubia's voters who thought that both parties were wrong in their approach to modernizing the Duchy. Yes, the Duchy had to modernize, but in a rational way that would not destroy the country's society.

Towards the end of May the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia entered a political crisis. The governing party lost several no-confidence votes in Parliament after opposition deputies criticized the lack of planning that led to the previous summer's fire disaster in Rika Chorna Province. Suddenly several governing party deputies announced their withdrawal from their party and the formation of a new political group. To the shock of the nation, several deputies from the opposition Greater Danubian Progressive Party joined them. Upper Danubia began a political re-alignment as a third political movement took shape over the summer.

At the time the political uproar in the Parliament was taking place, Vladim Dukov watched with the detached interest of an average public official. As a professional, the only immediate concerns he had were how the political changes might affect court appointments and the National Police. He worked from day to day, continuing to argue cases and help criminals rebuild their lives after being sentenced.

What Vladim Dukov did not realize was that the changes he wrote about in his articles, as well as the resulting political turmoil in Parliament, soon would affect him directly. By the end of the year the political changes would completely alter the course of the Spokesman's life.

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Criminal # 98945 passed her first round of final exams during the end of May. She had done well in her classes, completing her first semester in college with a cumulative class academic score of 94.5 percent. In the US that would have been the equivalent of a grade point average of 3.7 or 3.8. Kim was impressed by her own performance in college, considering that she had barely finished high school and was taking her current classes in a foreign language. She now was well on her way to fulfilling her Spokesman's vision of someday speaking on behalf of foreign criminals in Danubian courts.

Once their grades were returned and Dukov had a chance to examine their coursework, the Spokesman invited Kim and Tatiana to King Vladik's Castle. Dukov and the secretary wore their black prayer robes, while Kim, in compliance with her status as a criminal still serving her sentence, wore nothing.

They entered the ruler's chamber and knelt in front of the dead king's empty throne. A crown sat on the throne, but what struck Kim was the its simplicity. The crown was made from carved silver and brass, and inlaid with amber. There was no gold on the crown, nor any imported jewels. That crown had been made only from materials available within the realm. The crown was Kim's first introduction to Upper Danubia's greatest national hero. It was obvious he had been a modest and practical ruler.

Dukov spoke in the direction of the King's throne, but was not addressing the dead King directly. He asked, in Archaic Danubian, for the country's ancestors to bestow wisdom on him and his two protégés.

"These two young women will enter their responsibilities during very trying times. Life will test them in ways that my companions and I cannot even imagine. They will need your guidance, because my guidance, corrupted by the limitations of my generation's experiences, will fail them."

Kim looked over at her mentor, a bit taken aback by the Spokesman's doubts in his own abilities. To her Vladim Dukov was one of the most knowledgeable and intelligent people she had ever met. However, later in her life Kim would realize it was precisely because Dukov was so educated he realized how little about life he really knew.

The Spokesman and his two protégés left the castle. Tatiana returned to the Spokesman's office to change her clothes and get back to work, while Kim and Dukov walked down to the park that extended along the Danube River. For a long time neither of them said anything, although it was clear to Kim that Dukov wanted to make himself available to answer her questions. Finally she spoke up:

"Spokesman Dukov, why...I mean...what's so great about King Vladik? Why did we go and pray to an empty throne?"

"Kimberly, I understand you have not taken the university history requirement for that time period?"

"No, Spokesman Dukov, not yet. That's why I'm curious."

"Kimberly, perhaps I should begin by explaining to you why I, as a Spokesman, would pay homage to King Vladik. King Vladik created the position of Spokesman for the Criminal. You will understand that prior to King Vladik's rule, a convicted criminal became subject to his accuser. Once a person was convicted, he had to serve the person he had wronged. You will understand that before 1524, many, many people were unjustly accused by others who wanted to use them as slaves. Every society has something that dishonors its people, and that was what dishonored us."

"That makes sense. So that's what he changed?"

"What the king changed was who held responsibility over the convicted criminal. In 1524 the criminal became subject to the Crown, not to his accuser. In a single decision the King swept away a justice system that had degenerated into a system of slavery. All the nation's criminals passed under his control, and under his protection. He ordered 10 of his most trusted advisors to assume custody of the nation's criminals and determine how many of them were unjustly accused of committing crimes. Those 10 advisors became our country's first Spokesmen for the Criminals. That was how our profession began. That is why King Vladik is so important to me, and to you. You will understand that you and I will have walked the same path in life before we join the dead. We began as criminals. We will have become free citizens and then Spokespersons. That was the path in life King Vladik foresaw for people like ourselves."

"And Spokesman...you really think I can do it, I mean...like...argue in your courts and hassle with your prosecutors?"

"You will. It is what I foresaw back in September. And...Kimberly, I will advise you of something important. The beginning of your responsibilities to our justice system will come sooner than you think, long before you finish your studies. Very shortly you will understand why I just made that statement."