It came to pass one day that Seajus and his Apostals were called upon to deliver a rather large load of mail to a small township outside of Jerrycocoa that nobody had ever heard of. The town was called New Daitenshun and was situated directly in the middle of the barren province of Knowear.
The group set out from Jerrycocoa and after much travelling and stopping and travelling a bit further before stopping again, they arrived at a large set of iron gates guarded by many men dressed in identical blue and white uniforms and carrying a variety of blunt objects. Seajus wandered up to the guardhouse, noting the ten metre high fencing (topped with razorwire) that stretched around the township and the atmosphere of despair that seemed to hang in the air like thick smoke. With a thoughtful "hmmm..." he approached a pair of guards, one a tall, red haired fellow with a rolling pin resting over his shoulder and the other a younger gent leaning on what appeared to be the severed leg of a grand piano.
"Excuse me," Seajus said courteously, "Is this New Daitenshun?" The redhead looked him up and down suspiciously.
"Who wants to know?" he asked.
"I am Seajus, Seajus Crisco." He turned and waved a hand at the Apostals milling about the carts. "And these are my friends. We've got a shipment here for the..." Seajus fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a small scroll. "...'New Daitenshun Processing Centre for Very Dangerous People'."
"Oh, fair enough," said the redhead. "Just have your men leave it all their by the gate and we'll sort it out later." Seajus nodded and returned to his Apostals, directing them where to leave the piles of moldy food, smelly blankets and blunt objects. Behind the fence they could see some small children and a few despondent looking women staring out at them with a resigned desperation in their faces that caused no small amount of concern amongst the group. When they were done and about to leave Seajus wandered back over to the guards.
"So what exactly do you guys do here?" he asked. The guards exchanged a furtive glance.
"We guard things," replied the younger man. Seajus raised an eyebrow.
"I can see that... but what are you guarding?"
"Very dangerous people," said the older guard sternly, gesturing towards the fence where a number of emaciated and very depressed looking men had gathered. Seajus regarded them thoughtfully.
"They don't look too dangerous to me."
"Oh but they are!" said the younger man quickly. "Very dangerous indeed!"
"What did they do?" Seajus asked.
"Well they broke the law didn't they!"
"How?"
"Well you see, this lot thought they could sneak into our country by boat without coming through the proper channels!" replied the older guard, frowning furiously at the gathering crowd behind the fence.
"Oh really?" Seajus looked at the prisoners with a furrowed brow. "Why did they do that?" The guards blinked at him.
"What?"
"Why did they do that?" repeated Seajus.
"Well... errr..." The younger guard trailed off, looking around.
"...because they're terrorists, thats why! Bloody terrorists the lot of 'em!"
"Terrorists?" asked Seajus with mild surprise. "What makes you think they're terrorists?"
"Well... they're from terrorist countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan and Serbia. And they tried to break into our country so they must be criminals!" The older nodded furiously, looking around for approval. The younger clapped.
"Terrorist countries..." Seajus said thoughtfully. "Did they say why they left their homes?"
"Oh yes, some rot about being oppressed and having their basic human rights abused and being bashed and killed, all the usual sob stories." The older guard snorted. "Trying to get a bit of sympathy after you've been caught breaking into our country, it won't do you no good around. They must think we're a bunch of fools!"
"Whatever would give them that idea?" Seajus asked with a smile. "Sounds to me like they're refugees, not terrorists." The younger frowned at him.
"Thats exactly what they want us to think! But its all nonsense ya know. No, this lot are terrorists, you can be sure of that."
"Hmmm... obviously I'm not experienced enough in the art of spotting terrorists," said Seajus softly. "Perhaps you could... burden me with your wisdom on the subject?"
The guards beamed.
"Certainly! What would you like to know?" Seajus gave a knowing smile and leaned back against the doorframe.
"Perhaps we should start at the beginning..."
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