The slam dunk

(Cont.)

Then the wild man spoke to Moses, saying: “Tell the workers that they should turn and make a settlement in New Prague. Temporarily establish a military encampment between Mounds View and the coast, over against Vadnais Heights. I want the people positioned before the Red Ocean. Because the King will say to his intelligentsia about the escaped labor force: ‘Look, they must be entangled in the woods, around these uninhabited areas, and now they are captive.’ Because I have not yet finished the plan for which I continue hardening the King’s heart; so he shall surely set out and chase after his escaped workers; and I will earn great glory for myself by besting the King and overwhelming his retinue. Then, at last, the ruling class will see that I am the volcano of potential.”

And they did as he instructed.

Then someone burst into the throne room and said to the King, “Red alert, red alert: the workers have all escaped!” And when the King and his intelligentsia heard this, their hearts were turned against the labor force, and they said: “Why did we permit those workers to leave? They should be here, in the Empire, laboring in their tasks.”

So the King made ready his armored coach, which was half limousine and half battle-tank; and his intelligentsia climbed in as well and sat beside him, at the great round table of the vehicle’s war room.

And he was followed by six hundred infantry squad vehicles, and all the gun trucks in the Empire, with captains piloting every last one of them.

And the wild man hardened the heart of the Empire’s King, so that he chased after the labor force, as the masses of workers escaped with their arms raised defiantly, vaunting their newfound freedom.

But the forces of the Empire pursued them, all the squad vehicles and gun trucks, and their captains, with the King in his hybrid limousine battle-tank, and the entire creditor class in their cars. And they overtook them encamping by the ocean, beside New Prague and before Vadnais Heights.

And the workers saw the King’s armored coach approaching closer and closer; then they turned and noticed all the attack vehicles of the Empire driving straight toward them as well. This put the fear of god in the workers; so they cried out to Moses, saying:

“What is this? Did the Empire’s inland run out of burial plots, so you had to lug us here to a mass grave in this back country? What are you doing – what is your plan? Why did you encourage us to leave the city? Look: we’re all sitting ducks! This is exactly what we said would happen, when you first met with us. We said, ‘Leave us alone; let us stick to doing hard labor for the Empire: at least then we can feed our families.’ For it had been better for us to remain in the country’s workforce than to die out here in the wasteland.”

And Moses answered the workers and said: “Calm down. Just stand in place, and you will behold the magnificence of the Volcano, which shall be displayed for you this day, right here and now: you will witness a spectacular act of deliverance. Lift your heads and take one long look at those military vehicles, for this will be the last time that you ever see them. The volcano of potential is on your side: He shall fight for you. So, hush up, and stop your fretting.”

Then Moses went to visit the wild man in the fiery vortex, who was a stone’s throw away from the worker’s camp; and he relayed to him what the workers had complained. And the wild man said:

“Why do you come crying to me? Instruct the workers to continue marching forward. But you yourself need to stand up here in front of them, and lift up your wand, and wave it over the ocean. This will cause the waters of the deep to rise up, levitate, and hover above in midair: this way, my army can walk on the dry bed of the ocean and not get wet. And then, listen to this: I myself will personally harden the heart of the King and his whole entourage, and they shall follow you and the workers into the dry seabed; and I will earn great glory by the trap that I aim to spring on the King in his battle-tank, with his intelligentsia, and all their minions. Ah, then the forces of the Empire will finally know why I call myself the volcano of potential, because I will have glorified my name over the King and all his squad vehicles and gun trucks.”

Then the Volcano’s vortex changed its position: when Moses stood at the front of the workers’ army, the flaming gyre translocated to the rear; thus the clouds of billowing smoke from its exhaust manifold were no longer before the workers’ faces, but instead they were obscuring the air behind them. So the vortex was now between the mass of workers and the Empire’s forces: and it presented a thick cloud of darkness to the King and his retinue, while its fiery border served as a nightlight to the workers; this way, the two groups were kept apart safely until daybreak.

And Moses stretched out his arm and kept waving his wand over the ocean. All night long, he did this.

At first, everything was quiet; only the wind rustled amongst the trees, and the clouds were passing slowly above his head. Then the wild man, seeing that his prophet was rightly performing his role in the plan, caused an east wind to begin to blow; and all night long the gust got stronger and stronger.

Eventually the water rose on high like a white mist, and moved away with the other clouds; and the fishes of the ocean sprang onto the shore and laid themselves side by side, each according to his size and kind.

And the masses of workers walked in through the middle of the ocean upon dry ground; and the waters remained levitating above them, hovering in space. And the ocean in the air made small plashing noises while it undulated overhead, like the sound of a pleasant day at the beach.

And the Empire’s forces pursued, and went in after the working class through the midst of the ocean: all the King’s intelligentsia with him in his limousine battle-tank, followed by the six hundred infantry squad vehicles, and all the gun trucks.

And it happened that, in the morning, the goat-eyed wild man looked out and saw the scene: then he came down from his fiery smoking vortex and personally visited the Empire’s entourage as it was approaching, and he sabotaged those forces:

He removed the wheels from all their vehicles, and he uninstalled the track from under the skirt of the battle-tank, so that the King and his retinue had a hard time driving through the seabed: they got stuck in the sand.

And the intelligentsia said to the King: “Let us quit and go back: we should abandon this mission and flee from the workers, because the Volcano is interfering on their behalf.”

And the King looked through the periscope of his armored coach, and he saw with amazement all that was done. He then climbed out of the limo-tank’s hatch and began to walk in the direction of the wild man, who was just then removing the last wheel from one of the gun trucks. The wild man, perceiving the King’s approach, looked down at the sand and saw that there was one fish remaining in the seabed – it had not been removed to the shore with the rest of its brethren by the wind that had put all the fish in order. So the wild man reached forth and took this fish in his hand; and, as the King drew near to speak, he swung and lobbed the fish, and it hit the King’s face: it smacked the lips of the King like a kiss. Then the wild man hastened back into his vortex.

Now the wild man went to the front of the mass of workers, as they were reaching the opposite shoreline, and he instructed Moses with the following speech: “Stretch out your hand over the ocean again, and wave your wand. Therewith, the waters that are suspended above the King’s forces shall come splashing down on their heads: and the ocean shall engulf the Empire’s infantry and all their squad vehicles and gun trucks.”

So Moses waved his wand over the ocean; and, by the next morning, the waters had resumed their former position within the seabed. And the forces of the Empire attempted to retreat, but they were confined. And the Volcano engulfed the Empire in the Ocean.

The waves crashed over the vehicles of the King’s entourage: his limousine battle-tank, the cars of the creditors, and all the gun trucks were submerged. There escaped not one alive to tell about it.

But the armies of the working class walked on the dry seabed when they crossed through the ocean, and the deep waters hovered above them in an attitude of obedience.

This was how the volcano of potential rescued the labor force that day, out of the clutches of the Empire. And the people saw all their creditors dead on the seashore.