Chapter 3 - The Knut

Before I knew Karl Knutmudsen, I knew him simply as the 'Knut'.  We were both in the same fraternity and he was often the life of the party.  While I was focused on my studies and spent my days in the library, he was often gallivanting about and didn't seem so intent on graduating.  He did only enough to pass his grades and arrived at graduation in a stupor.

I never took him as someone very serious about politics and was surprised when we both made attaches to the senior commissariat Sigmund Delemont.  It felt strange and wondered if Karl was somehow connected, but he came from modest means and spoke little of his parents other than they ran a small shop and he had a younger sister Greta.  I worked tirelessly to secure such a coveted spot and was flabbergasted to find he was offered it by Sigmund himself.

But then I realized he was a serious academic and hid behind a facade his keen intellect.  He was nothing less than amazing and quickly rose through the ranks and became a bureau chief within two years.  He never forgot me and as soon as a position opened he made me a bureau chief and both of our aspirations were skyrocketing.

The monthly station conferences were nothing short of a spectacle with the Knut.  Oliver fondly remembers those days and was a willing accomplice in his antics.  Above all others Oliver idolized Knut who was a bit of a mentor to him.  We never recalled any interaction between Karl and Gustafson who then wasn't part of the bureau and still assigned to the Army.  And Gustafson only arrived after the Artesians.

Stephan Gustafson however, was briefly an attache assigned to Sigmund and he was referred to Knut and myself and we both made our first acquaintance with the General through his son.  Stephan was recalled less than a year later to serve with the Army and it was about three years afterwards he died in the main lobby of the Politiburo during the uprising.  Karl felt personally responsible with his death as it was one of the Artesians who shot him.

But before that, we began seeing a marked change in the Knut's temperament around the time Stephan left.  It was when the Artesians began causing a disturbance and Oliver and myself were dismayed when Karl approached us one day trying to recruit us over to the Artesian's cause.  It wasn't long after that we stopped socializing with Karl.

The day the Artesians stormed the Politiburo, Karl called me and warned me not to go into town.  I asked him why and he wouldn't share beyond that it was a matter of life and death.  I called Oliver a short while later and said he got the same warning and we decided to call the security chief.  By then it was already too late and the chief was also telling us not to go anywhere near the Politburo as there had been shots fired and several people injured.

We watched as it all unfolded and then tried to sort through the pieces in the aftermath.  A dozen people were killed including a senior commisar, several bureau chiefs and Stephan Gustafson.  None of the Artesians died that day, but about eighty seven of its members and those suspected of being a member were summarily rounded up, given a trial and sentenced to hard labor.

It was a very tense time and I remember both Oliver and myself were interviewed by several special agents.  But the interviews concluded as quickly as they started and an eerie calm and peace returned to the city.  It was as if the uprising never occurred and the Artesians were just a memory.