After my meeting with George and Sam, I went straight home. My parents asked why I had been absent from school that day, but I didn't answer them. I walked directly to my room, closed the door, and locked it. I sat down on my bed and thought about everything that had happened. It felt like something out of a fantasy movie, and somehow I was the heroine of it. At first the thought made me smile.
But then a bitter realization crept into my mind.
How were we supposed to take down an all-powerful government?
Still… maybe I could be a little optimistic. The three of us would eventually find a way. Together, we would come up with something. Maybe fate itself would guide us.
next day, I skipped school again. My parents were going to be very angry about it, but I had more important things to do.
First, I went to our secret place—the library—where I met Sam and George to discuss our next step.
George stepped forward and began to speak.
"Our first task as a team is to spread the seed of knowledge," he said. "We must distribute books and encourage everyone to read them."
"George is right," Sam added. "We need as many people as possible to learn the truth. And the best way to do that is through books."
Sam then pulled out three small robotic birds. One was yellow, one blue, and the last one pink.
"With these," Sam explained, "we will be able to communicate with each other no matter where we are."
We shook hands before leaving the library, each of us taking a different route.
I looked at the pink bird in my hand.
"Hmm… I'll call you Pipi," I said with a small laugh. "That's a cute name for a little robot like you."
But things didn't go as smoothly as we had planned.
When I tried to give books to people, I received responses like:
"Books? I've never heard of that."
One person said, "Books are ancient history. I don't need them."
Another even threatened to call the police.
I knew it would be difficult, but I never imagined it would be this hard — and this dangerous.
We were secretly trying to spread books, but no one wanted them. No one even paid attention. The government had done its job perfectly. For years they had manipulated the citizens, convincing them that books were useless and unnecessary for knowledge.
The people were completely under the government's control.
When we returned to the library, we all looked disappointed. Not a single person had taken a book from us.
Sam spoke first.
"Agh… these government brats," he groaned. "These people are completely under their control. We weren't able to give a single book to anyone."
"That's not entirely true," George interrupted with a small smile. "I managed to give one book to an old man. So that counts… hehe."
Sam sighed. "Only one… that won't get us anywhere."
I looked at both of them.
"Then what should we do?" I asked. "We have to do something."
"I'm thinking, Elena… I am," Sam said, pacing around the library.
George looked more composed, already reading a book while the robotic birds chirped above my head.
After a few moments, Sam suddenly stopped.
"Yes… Agh! Why didn't I think of it sooner? Entertainment!" he said with a wide grin.
I looked at him, confused.
"Entertainment? How is that going to help, Sam?"
Sam sighed dramatically. "Oh, Elena… let me explain."
He began pacing again, clearly excited.
"People love fun and joy. That's what attracts them the most. Curiosity grows naturally. Instead of forcing them to take our books, we should lure them to us. When they come willingly, we can feed them knowledge—history, stories, truth."
He leaned forward with a determined smile.
"And when they learn the truth, they will see the lies of their beloved government. Their eyes will open. They will start thinking for themselves instead of believing everything they are told."
Sam crossed his arms proudly.
"Yes… that sounds like the perfect plan."
I nodded and began to speak.
"I understand your idea, Sam. But how are we going to execute the plan?"
Suddenly George jumped up from his chair.
"Aha! I know exactly what we should do," he said excitedly.
"We can make animations and cartoons. I'm good at drawing and animation. We could create parody cartoons—funny stories with small pieces of truth and criticism about the government hidden inside them. People will laugh, but they'll also start thinking."
He rubbed his hands together, clearly proud of the idea.
"And maybe we could even dress like clowns and perform in public—tell stories or recite poetry. People love entertainment."
He rubbed his hands together, clearly proud of the idea.
"And maybe we could even dress like clowns and perform in public—tell stories or recite poetry. People love entertainment."
He looked at me and grinned.
"I'm pretty sure Elena would look great in a clown costume."
I blushed heavily and looked away
"Ignore George," Sam said with a sigh. "He gets ridiculous when he's excited."
Then he looked at me seriously.
"But with your help, Elena, we can make this plan work."
I nodded slowly.
"Yes… we can make it happen."
The three of us stepped closer and hugged each other.
After that, we didn't meet for a while—at least not physically. We still communicated through our robotic birds from time to time, but our conversations were always brief.Sometimes I wondered what Sam and George were doing during the day. Where did they live? What kind of lives did they have outside the library? I wanted to know more about them.
But perhaps it was better this way.
If one of us were ever captured by government agents, we wouldn't have much information to give them. And they wouldn't be able to learn anything about the others from us.
After a few days, George finally finished the animation.
We rented a small public screen for a few dollars and played the cartoon there. To our surprise, it attracted a much larger audience than we expected. People gathered out of curiosity, laughing and watching the parody.
It was a complete success. Later, we dressed as clowns and performed stories, poetry, and small acts for the public. Children and adults alike gathered around us. Everyone seemed entertained.But hidden inside the humor and stories were small pieces of truth. And as I looked at the crowd, I hoped that we had planted
a small seed of doubt in their mind.
We were sitting in our secret library, happy and satisfied.
"Everything went so well," I said.
"I know, right," Sam replied. "Our plan was perfect."
"Let's call it a day and rest at home, gang," George said at last.
That was our final conversation for the day as we all headed home. As I walked along the dark pathway, I accidentally bumped into something—or someone—and fell to the ground. Looking up, I saw the shadow of a person, and my heart sank with fear.
At the government headquarters
"There's a lot of commotion happening in Area 11, South City," a voice reported. "Agent 05, we request you to investigate."
Agent 05 fixed his hat and coughed. "Oh my… it's my turn to work now? I was enjoying some leisure time. What's all the fuss about?"
"We don't know," the voice admitted. "That's why we're telling you to investigate."
Agent 05 stood and smirked. "Alright, alright… I get it. I guess it's my time to work now."