The Penal Colony

The Commandant woke up to the news of the Officer's death. The machine which he, the Officer, held so dear had perished in the ordeal. The last iota of the previous Commandant had finally evaporated. The Colony could now turn a new leaf. Due process could now take centre stage. There would be Justice.

The Soldier reported that the Explorer had fled the scene after putting the Officer in the Apparatus. The Condemned Man attested to the Soldier's claim. They had chased after him up to the port and had narrowly missed him. The Explorer had ferried away after putting a man through a horrible and unfulfilling death. The Explorer had murdered a man whose only fault was that he had done his job diligently. What could the Officer have done? What he did in his life was no fault of his. The Colony had a tradition and the Officer had kept it going. And, for that the Explorer had ordered, in a language, they were not familiar with, probably French, the Officer to lie down on the bed.

The Commandant had long promised to do away with the tradition set forth by the old Commandant and the death of the Officer, the most ardent follower of the old Commandant, meant he could finally deliver his long due promise. However, he had also promised due process and Justice and, as such, it didn't matter if a thief stole from another thief or if it was a murderer who was murdered. A crime, whoever it's the victim, was still a crime. The Explorer had to be brought to Justice. 

The Commandant was in dilemma. The Explorer had served his purpose as the Commandant had hoped he would, albeit in a manner he hadn't dared to imagine. The foreigner must have been overtaken by the idea of irony— he must have seen some poetic justice in putting the Officer, the keeper of the machine, through the same fate as countless convicts he had delivered to the Apparatus. Poetic as it might have been, it was still inhumane and although the Officer might have deserved such a fate, the Explorer had still taken matters into his own hands— "due process be damned!" Why else would he have fled the Colony? Why else would he had not come to the audience of the Commandant as previously designated?

The Explorer had to be made an example of.  He was due to one more invitation to the Colony. The Commandant convened an emergency meeting. The who-is-who of the Colony filled the hall.  "My fellow Colony men, today is a bittersweet day for my reign here. I am jovial to finally fulfil my promise of doing away with every minute memory of the old ways. The Apparatus was put out of commission today morning." The room roared with wild applause. The Commandant continued, "However, there has been a complication. The Officer has died or rather been murdered. He was the last victim of the Apparatus. The Explorer put him through it. The Soldier and the Condemned Man witnessed the whole ordeal." The Soldier and the Condemned Man could be seen shaking their heads in agreement. 

There was a lot of commotion in the room. Everyone was talking over everyone. They looked more like a group of an angry mob and less like a council. The Commandant spoke again. The room returned to order. "Like I said there will be Justice. There will be rule of law. The Colony of the old Commandant is dead. As dead as the Officer. As dead as his Apparatus." The Commandant signalled the witness. At which point, the Soldier stepped forward, " My Lordships, yes, it was the foreigner who ordered the Officer to his death. And, although we couldn't make sense of much of their conversation since they were talking in some foreign  language,  both of us can confirm the foreigner's role in the death of one of our own." The Condemned Man nodded in agreement. 

It was, thus, decided by the council that a team be dispatched with the fastest of the Colony's ferries and the Explorer be brought before them to be tried. Within the next hour, a team was dispatched accompanied by the Soldier and the Condemned-man for identification of the guilty foreigner.  A day later, just before the sunset, the ferry returned with the Explorer. The Explorer was to be in the same prison cell the Condemned man was held in.  The next morning, before sunrise, the Commandant visited the Explorer, whose life was in the air now. "My respect of you still remains unfazed. But the law is the law and you have to face the trial." said the Commandant. "Everybody advised me against coming here. I believed you when you said, "The Colony is not the same anymore." And, for that, I now pay the price."

At noon, the Explorer was brought before the council. The Condemned Man and the Soldier were stood at one corner. Around a hundred colony members were gathered around to witness the historic moment. An Officer had been assigned the role of an attorney. And thus began the trial. "Stood before us, here today, in the colony is a man responsible for an unlawful death of a man of law." The officer went on, "The Explorer, who was invited to our colony by the Commandant, with such high regards and whose visit was supposed to herald a new day, did nothing more than giving continuity to the ways of the Old Commandant. The Officer might have been an agent of the past but he, as a member of the new colony, deserved all that we get. This man here denied him that. This man here played judge and executioner." 

The Explorer, who was still in shock from these recent developments, said, "There seems to be a misunderstanding here. I executed no one. I hold no such power." The new Officer spoke again, "In your shoes, I'd probably had said the same thing. And, given your reputation, you might just have got away with it. But not here, not in the colony of today for two people, with their very eyes, witnessed your act." The new Officer looked towards the Condemned Man and the Soldier–"Tell what you witnessed to the council."

"My lordships, I was to be executed the other day.  I was laid down on the bed, the gag put on in my mouth. The machine had been started. I was beginning to feel the pain. At this point, I had effectively surrendered my life, given all hope of living." “Save up your story for some other audience. Get to the chase!" interrupted the Attorney. 

"I owe my life to the Explorer. I have no clue as to what conversation the Explorer and the Officer had. But all I know is, I stand here before you thanks to the Explorer’s intervention."

Courtesy of Romain Veillon

As the man went on in the local dialect, the Explorer looked lost. Next, the Soldier was stood before the council and asked the very same question. The Soldier, too, replied in the local dialect–"The Explorer and the Officer had a long conversation which turned into a heated argument towards the end. The Explorer appeared agitated and he said something. Probably an order. It was after that the Officer relieved the Condemned Man and placed himself in the Apparatus instead. That's how it happened. That's what I saw."

***

Next morning, as the neck-rope was being put on the Explorer's neck he was heard whispering, "What did I expect would happen?... the colony lives on."