The Devil in the Spotlight - Part I

12th March

Old Settlement, Artemis, Freehold territory

With his speech an hour ago, Frank Scuderi has changed, well, the world. Nothing will be the same again. I think saying that is not an exaggeration. Even if we fail now to achieve an independent moon, the actions that Frank took today will still be an important turning point in the history of the moon, if not the history of all humanity. Not that we will fail. I'll make sure Frank succeeds, that we're able to gain our independence, and establish a new nation here on the moon. But after that, Frank will no longer be necessary. In fact, he will become problematic. The kind of world, the kind of society, that Frank wishes to create… is not something that I can agree with.

When Frank travelled out to Junction to first meet me, he tried to convince me and, by proxy, the Justice Association to support him. Support his bordering on insane plan to create an independent lunar state. He attempted to convince me by trying to goad me into coming. He talked about Yohn, who I haven't seen in years, in an attempt to convince me to ally with him, and come to Artemis. Because Yohn is here. Because Frank is Yohn's boss.

But, unknown to Frank, that isn't why I really agreed to come. After Frank left, I thought about what he had said. It was clear that even without my help, he would simply find another, perhaps more harmful, way to force this nation into being. Because that's what Frank's like. And that's why he needs to be stopped.

I then called an old friend of mine, Sawano Nozomi. Nozomi is a former member of JAXA, and was a member of the first twenty. After our mission came to an end, and a regular flow of immigrants to the moon was established, Nozomi left JAXA, and became an employee of Huesong, where she has remained in a high-level position, even after a number of additional staff have emigrated from Earth.

After she answered the call, I explained the situation to her: Frank was pushing for independence, which I agreed with, and he wanted to create a new form of government with him at the top, which I disagreed with. As I anticipated, Nozomi agreed with me. Independence was good, but Frank was bad, for the moon. We would work together to undermine Frank, and stop him from achieving his goal, his dream, and everything that he has been working towards. From behind the scenes, working with a small group of people, we would find a way to remove Frank from power, before he can do too much damage. And then, we will form a new government… a better, democratic government, that will rule fairly and justly.

And so, that's what we're doing. But we've agreed that since I'm so close to Frank, it might be better if I was distanced from it all. Frank is intelligent. I think everyone can agree on that. However, what makes Frank appear so intelligent isn't necessarily what many people agree on as smarts or intellectual ability. What he does have, however, is the ability to 'read' people. When he looks at you… you can just feel it. That he looks straight through you, and sees your ugly true feelings inside. The way that he sees things like this, sometimes before you know it yourself, is what makes him such a dangerous opponent. And, because I'm going to be working so closely with Frank, I can't be hiding anything from him. Yes, I'll still be hiding the fact that there is a plot to undermine him, but I won't know anything about it, if he ever catches on to me. If it's this way, I can't give up any information about the plot. That's the only way this will work. I need to deceive him. Lie, act, and hide behind a facade to ensure that Frank doesn't know that I'm working against him. And the best way to do that, is if I really know nothing.

Following the end of the rally, we're all still stuck here in the Old Settlement. Some people are trying to answer curious members of the public, who have come to ask what exactly is going on. What exactly Frank's words today mean for all of them. The rest of them seem to think that there's some sort of party going on. I, personally, don't know what to think. I knew that this was what Frank was planning today, but now that it's happened, I'm not one hundred percent sure what I'm supposed to do. What part am I playing in this exactly? Who am I pretending to be?

I spot Frank, and I think that I made eye contact with him. Yes, I definitely did. He's walking over in this direction now. What to say… I guess for starters, I should assure him that he has my support. Would he find that weird, or suspicious? Is that unnatural for me to say?

"You have my thanks, Mei," Frank greets me with an easy smile, "your introduction was great. It made it a lot easier for me."

"No, it's just what we agreed on," I responded, "I would like to say once again that you have the full support of the Justice Association."

"Of course, that's what we agreed on."

Frank frowned, then tilted his head slightly at me. Maybe that wasn't natural after all.

"I came here to offer you, or rather the Justice Association, a place in a provisional government of some sort that's being set up."

"What's in it for you giving us a seat?"

"I need someone else to offset the power that the tigers have," Frank replied, "they're also going to be part of the government, provisionally, as well as some of my own supporters. I need the Justice Association to be there as a third party to offset the tigers. An ally that I can rely on. Of course, you should be invited regardless. It's thanks to you that we've made it even this far."

It's clear that that isn't really what Frank is thinking. He hides it well enough, sure, but I don't believe a single word of it. I'll play along for now, anyway. Whatever Frank wants. I'll give him everything. Make him blind and oblivious to everything that's happening behind the scenes. I can't just give Frank everything too easily, however.

"Of course. I can't guarantee that we'll do exactly what you want. The Association has morals and codes. We can't support something that we don't agree with."

"Well, I suppose that can't be helped. Choose three of your members, including yourself, to represent the Association."

"Okay, I'll get on to it."

Frank keeps standing there for a little bit, without saying anything. Then he frowns, only ever so slightly, but he distinctively frowned. He looks as if he's expecting me to say something else. What is he wanting me to say? Was there something I did or said that he wasn't expecting, that wasn't like me?

Then Frank blinks and smiles, "I'll see you in a few days then. Someone from DELOS will be in contact to tell you when the provisional government is meeting."

He then walks away. As I see him, his back turned from me, it dawns on me that I just spoke with the newest world leader. I mean, it isn't like I haven't talked to him before or anything obviously, but for whatever reason, I just happened to think about it just then.

Yohn also comes into my mind very briefly, just for a moment. If I remember correctly, Frank said that Yohn was his Head of Security nowadays. Shouldn't Yohn have been with him then? In fact, where is Yohn? I don't know if I've seen him at all today. Is he not here?