The Silence of the Gods
by Adele Riquefort (2011)

The Gods are not mute. If you can't hear their voice, it's because they spend a lot of time thinking. Ages. Millennia. The answers they are looking for are hard to get. So, they need time. And time alone, that is. When the thinking comes to an end, the Gods speak. And once they have spoken, they have spoken. And their answer is ultimate.

action: %
response: The Gods are not mute. If you can't hear their voice, it's because they spend a lot of time thinking. Ages. Millennia. The answers they are looking for are hard to get.

So, they need time. And time alone, that is.

When the thinking comes to an end, the Gods speak. And once they have spoken, they have spoken. And their answer is ultimate.
action: About you
response: A New Year's Speed-IF by Adele Riquefort

Smokey Garage (on the steel chair)
You are tied hands and feet to this cold chair, a pool of water freezing under you. A thin layer of smoke dances on the floor.

You always knew you were going to die, sooner or later. What you hoped for, though, was that your pants weren't the only thing you worn.

Three scugnizzi are looking at you, inexpressive smiles on their faces.

Rudolph Mancini is here, cleaning his nails with a knife.
action: About yourself
response: You're carrying nothing. You are wearing your pants.

"You know, I'm not the kind of Vito Corleone", says Rudolph Mancini. He keeps picking at his nails with the knife, avoiding eye contact. "I'm really not into Vito Corleone's methods."

You feel a bit relieved.
action: You look at the scugnizzi
response: Johnny, Tony and Zachary. Their suits cost more than your car. They wear all the same model of sunglasses. Their faces have been cut in the same places. It's sad those butt-mushes are the last things you will be seeing.

"I'm more of the Micheal type, you know."

Something cold drops in your stomach.

"All those loyalties, the Honor -- with the capital H --, the Family... I found those being just a loss of time. And money."
action: You examine the pants
response: Your most beloved light-blue boxers. On them, white dolphins jump cheerful.

"One has to come to terms with the fact that, sooner or later, if you don't keep your dogs well chained... well, they tend to bite you. Do you get it?"

As he lifts his face from the knife and its carving, you feel your balls retracting, like the head of a slug. Mancini sends a glance at Tony, the bigger of his scugnizzi, and another bucketful of gelid water splashes on your head and torso.
This time, it takes you almost a minute to recover.

The pool at your feet is becoming the more and more solid.
action: You examine the dolphins
response: Your most beloved light-blue boxers. On them, white dolphins jump cheerful.

"You are not going to get a cold, do you?"

You stare at Mancini's eyes, finally turned at you. You try to hold the shivers.

"Cause that would spoil all the fun, you know. You dying of a goddamn cold." A burst of laughter, copycatted by the three scugnizzi. "Let's get back to the point. You understand what I'm trying to make clear, here?"

You silently nod.
action: You talk to Mancini
response: It's lecture time.

"That door. Man, there were not many rules, weren't they? You did open that door, did you?"

Another glance to the sidekicks, and another splash of water. Then, Zachary leaves and comes back, what it looks like a big, portable radio in his left hand. On the right one, two electrical wires dangle like hangmen.

You feel your sight begin to blur.

Then, it all goes black.
action: Panic
response: A multitude of tiny portraits, pictures and drawings hangs on the walls of this corridor. The wallpaper is old and scratched, pieces of it ripped aside like thorn skin. The place is very different from the rest of the affluent mansion.

A door leaves the house to the north, while two more open to the west and south. A staircase climbs upstairs to the second floor.

Another small, wooden door stands at the side of the stairs, leading downstairs.
action: About yourself
response: You're carrying a gun. You are wearing a pair of trousers and a worn shirt.
action: You examine the gun
response: A Beretta Parabellum. Old, but still useful.
action: You examine the shirt
response: Black. A sort of Mancini's henchmen regimentals.
action: You examine the trousers
response: These must be as old as yourself.
action: You examine the pictures
response: Memories from Mancini's lineage. You notice that, among the people portrayed, there is no trace of him. It feels like these are someone else's records.
action: You look at the wallpaper
response: Flowers, small and green, line one on top of the other on a beige background.
action: You go to the west
response: The spacious abode is filled by light coming from the ample windows. Sofas and armchairs rest like kids around a fire, looking at the short table between them. A large fireplace dominates the northern wall.

The wall-mounted Family's safe decors a square yard on the west wall.
action: You look at safe
response: A touchpad is the only visible detail on its surface. As far as you know, a four-digit code is required to open it.
action: You look at the table
response: A smoking table, five feet each side. No ashtray, though.
action: You look under the table
response: You discover a small box, forgotten there who knows when.

The spacious abode is filled by light coming from the ample windows. Sofas and armchairs rest like kids around a fire, looking at the short table between them. A large fireplace dominates the northern wall.

The wall-mounted Family's safe decors a square yard on the west wall.

You can also see a copy of Doom III here.
action: You get the Doom 3
response: Taken.
action: You look at the Doom 3
response: A vintage game, from the era when graphics were more valuable than text.
action: You open safe
response: It seems to be locked.
action: Unlock safe
response: What do you want to unlock the safe with?
action: You look at safe
response: A touchpad is the only visible detail on its surface. As far as you know, a four-digit code is required to open it.
action: Type 1234
response: What do you want to type that on?
action: You take it
response: That's fixed in place.
action: You go upwards
response: Upper floors are for the Family and the scugnizzi. You don't want to go there and risk being found by Tony or Johnny. Their jokes on you are usually too hard to digest.
action: You go to the south
response: A small room, no space left for a table or anything. Just a stove, the burners and a sink.

A dumbwaiter cuts an empty rectangle in the east wall.

On the counter beside the burners sits a bowl of fresh fruit.

Grandma Elisella is here, tending to the kitchen.

The sight of the old lady still gives you mixed feelings after all these years. You have been one of the Mancinis for a long time, as long as you can recall. Still, her frigid glance is something you can't quite digest. She has always had that way of making you feel a lesser part of the brood. Like being adopted was a sort of handicap.
action: You examine the fruit
response: Oranges and apples, mostly.
action: You take the fruit
response: Taken.
action: You examine the woman
response: A very old woman, Elisella is Rudolph and Gianni's mother. Once her husband Fortunato has died, she ended up in the kitchen, where she passes the days alongside garlic and olive oil. You can't tell how much of her fate was her to choose rather than imposed by her sons.
action: You examine dumbwaiter
response: There is only a button, on which an arrow points downwards. You wonder where does this go to.
action: You look at the stove
response: The old kind, with the burners on top.
action: You take the bowl
response: You already have that.
action: You talk to the woman
response: Grandma Elisella does her best to avoid you.
action: You throw the apple at the woman
response: You lack the nerve when it comes to the crucial moment.
action: You press the button
response: The dumbwaiter is empty. Maybe you should put something in it.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You're carrying a bowl of fruit, a copy of Doom III and a gun. You are wearing a pair of trousers and a worn shirt.
action: You put the gun in dumbwaiter
response: That should be used to send food.
action: You put the apple in the dumbwaiter
response: You send the fruits downstairs, and wait.

A minute later, the bowl returns, empty. A strong curiosity about where it has been fills you, as you grab it.
action: You check your inventory
response: You're carrying an empty bowl, a copy of Doom III and a gun. You are wearing a pair of trousers and a worn shirt.
action: You look at the bowl
response: This is where the fruit stood... before someone took it.
action: You put the gun in bowl
response: You put the gun into the empty bowl.
action: You take the gun
response: Taken.
action: You remove the trousers
response: That would leave you in underwear. Something Rudy Mancini would call impolite.
action: You remove shirt
response: You don't mind showing yourself. Mancini does, though.
action: Describe the surroundings
response: A small room, no space left for a table or anything. Just a stove, the burners and a sink.

A dumbwaiter cuts an empty rectangle in the east wall.

Grandma Elisella is here, tending to the kitchen.
action: You look at the stove
response: The old kind, with the burners on top.
action: You examine the burners
response: Four burners. No pots are bubbling over them.
action: You put the Doom in the dumbwaiter
response: That should be used to send food.
action: You look at the sink
response: A cracked ceramics sink.
action: You talk to the Grandma
response: Grandma Elisella does her best to avoid you.
action: Go downward
response: You still tremble at the thought of what Don Mancini would do of you if he caught you down there... but the curiosity is too much. You open the door and dive into darkness.

(first opening the door to the cellars)
Cellars
A damp underground room, stone-paved and stone-walled.

A few steps upwards, and there stands the wooden door.

A bulky, metal door stands on the eastern wall, held by strong hinges like those of a castle's drawbridge.

A mumbling of sorts comes from behind the bulky door.
action: You listen
response: It is a woman's -- or rather a girl's -- voice, coming from behind the door.
action: You open the door
response: Which do you mean, the door to the cellars or the bulky door?
action: Bulky
response: It seems to be locked.
action: You check your inventory
response: You're carrying a gun, an empty bowl and a copy of Doom III. You are wearing a pair of trousers and a worn shirt.
action: You talk to the bulky
response: You knock at the door and a tiny voice comes from beyond it. "Who's there? Zachary?"

You clear your throat. "Who are you?" you ask, hesitantly.

"Zachary? Please would you let me out? Please. I know you are a good person..."

For a long minute you look at the door, speechless. Then: "I'm no Zach. My name is Cesco. Francesco Mancini. Who are you?"

The person at the other side of the door, her soft voice still muted by the hulking door, comes rattling at it. "Francesco!" She cries. "Please, lemme outta here. Please! I did harm no one!"

"Who are you?" you insist. Then, the girl starts to cry. "Hey madam", you comfort her, "don't cry. There's no need. You are safe here... I think--."

Then, the obvious strikes you. "Have you been... have you been... taken?"

It is funny how you fail in giving things their right name, after all this time in the Mob. The girl's been kidnapped, that's what it is. She speaks again, this time her voice seems more resolute. "I know a thing. Go where Zachary and the rest of the goons hold their accounts. You must have a place like that, in this house of horrors. Go there and look for a safe, or a drawer. Somewhere where Zachary keeps a blue notebook. You will find your answers there. Go."

You stand by the door, still speechless. An image of the secret diary of the older scugnizzo forms in your head. The studio upstairs: that's where he keeps it. "I'll do", you say. Then, as you are about to leave the cellars, the same question jumps from your mouth, this time a little less vigorously. "Who... are you?"

"I'm your cousin, Cesco. I'm Hellen."

A shiver so dense you could cut it with a knife takes hold of you as you run through the stairs and out of here.

A multitude of tiny portraits, pictures and drawings hangs on the walls of this corridor. The wallpaper is old and scratched, pieces of it ripped aside like thorn skin. The place is very different from the rest of the affluent mansion.

A door leaves the house to the north, while two more open to the west and south. A staircase climbs upstairs to the second floor.

Another small, wooden door stands at the side of the stairs, leading downstairs.
action: Go downward
response: A damp underground room, stone-paved and stone-walled.

A few steps upwards, and there stands the wooden door.

Hellen's voice comes from behind the bulky door, muted by its weight.

A bulky, metal door stands on the eastern wall, held by strong hinges like those of a castle's drawbridge.
action: You talk to bulky door
response: "Please, help me."
action: You ask Hellen about yourself
response: "You are Francesco. I remember your voice. It has not changed that much since we were young. Please, please, lemme out."
action: You ask Hellen about Zachary
response: "Zachary is the one who gets me food. The other scugnizzi I've barely seen."
action: You ask Hellen about Hellen
response: "I'm Hellen Benelli. The scugnizzi have taken my down here. You MUST help me."
action: You ask Hellen about the notebook
response: "They killed my father. And then kidnapped me. You know what they say about Mancini? That he gets his enemies" sons and daughters as his own after he got rid of them. You are no different."
action: You ask Hellen about
response: You can only do that to something animate.
action: You go north
response: You eye the front door, then decide you better stay here, until Don Mancini arrives.
action: You check your inventory
response: You're carrying a gun, an empty bowl and a copy of Doom III. You are wearing a pair of trousers and a worn shirt.
action: Up
response: You climb the stairs two steps at a time, resolute in discovering more about the girl in the basement.

One room interests you, on this floor. The studio, where Don Mancini uses to deal with his affairs and his minions, opens to the south. Stairways descend to the ground floor.

It seems no one is in the house, at the moment. All is silent.
action: Go south
response: A vast room, mainly surrounded by bookshelves. All of the furniture is a mix of old and new, different styles mixing in a showcase-like pout-pourri. A massive chartreuse bureau catches you attention, his lower drawer left slightly open.
action: You take the notebook
response: Taken.
action: You read the notebook
response: Inside the notebook you find some photos, depicting the most renowned adversaries of Rudolph Mancini. One of the pictures is clutched to a paper sheet. You recognize Zachary's handwriting.

"Took the girl. Bossed Benelli. He didn't want to lay down. Had to lay him down. Put the girl in the cell. Asked Father. Said he will look up on it. Another 'sister'?".

You stroll through the pages. On the very last one, another note bears a number, handwritten by Rudy himself: "4876".
action: You look at the bureau
response: It's gigantic proportions well suit Mancini's outstanding ego. The bottom drawer is open.
action: You examine the furniture
response: This room must have been designed by a fool or a madman. Or by one with a gargantuan Ego.
action: You examine the bookshelves
response: A ton of books, all fiction. Stephen King alongside Umberto Eco and -- although it looks like a bad joke -- all Mario Puzo's. On the shelves even some of the fairy tales you used to read when a boy, like "Your Mum's Shoes", "My Enemy Tiny Tim" and "The Smell of my Evil Twin".
action: Go north
response: One room interests you, on this floor. The studio, where Don Mancini uses to deal with his affairs and his minions, opens to the south. Stairways descend to the ground floor.
action: Type 4876 on touchpad
response: You type the number on the touchpad, and the safe unlocks and opens.
action: You look at safe
response: A touchpad is the only visible detail on its surface. As far as you know, a four-digit code is required to open it. The safe is open, revealing a photo album and a large iron key.

In the safe are a photo album and a large iron key.
action: You look at the album
response: You slowly turn each page of the album.

The first are no more than ancient daguerrotypes of the Italian town from which the Mancinis came, more than one hundred years ago. Funny looking women wearing full black dresses and men in a hat. Then, as the pages go by, the pictures become younger and more vivid. Around the middle of the tome, you scout Rudolph Mancini with his family, a shot taken in the Fifties, all lined up like soldiers during the gathering -- he had personal records, somehow. Those go on for a few turnings of the page.

Almost at the end, the photos change abruptly.

These don't belong here. Other families. Some of the pictures are torn, other crippled. One, a shoot from the Eighties, is bloodstained and it catches your attention. It depicts a family you've seen many times, over the years. The Benellis. One branch of the family, the one spreading from Vittorio, the big one. He's brother to Vincente, the one Zachary must have put to rest these days. You stare at the pic, and a whole new world opens before you, while the old one opens below.

The little kid, on a three wheeler. His eyes. That uncomfortable flock, which never stood where it should. And that t-shirt, with Pagliacci on it, the famous clown.

"Hey, Clown", you hear Tony and Johnny call you, in your head. And all of a sudden, darkness enters the room.
action: Look around
response: The spacious abode is filled by light coming from the ample windows. Sofas and armchairs rest like kids around a fire, looking at the short table between them. A large fireplace dominates the northern wall.

The wall-mounted Family's safe decors a square yard on the west wall. The safe is open, revealing nothing.
action: You examine the key
response: Looks... bulky.
action: You unlock bulky door with the key
response: You unlock the bulky door.
action: You open bulky door
response: You open the door. It gives with a nasty squeak. Halfway through its course it slams wide open, the young woman behind pushing it with all her strength.

"Cesco!" she shouts, as she sees you. "I knew you were not dead. I knew God would answer my plea!"

That said, she hugs you, trembling frantically. You let her do it, then slowly recede, looking into her eyes. "What has happened," you ask. "And why do you say you are my cousin?"

"Because you are, Cesco." The last of the pictures in the album you found in the safe flashes in front of you. You can't fool yourself anymore. "I thought they killed you. How did they keep you secret, all these years?"

"I was... in the house," you blush. Yes: for the last fourteen years, you were allowed to leave the mansion only once, and that was for taking your First Eucharist. That was going to be Hellen's same fate, if only you decided to stay upstairs, where you were supposed to stay.

"Let's leave," you murmur, before grabbing Hellen by an arm and start rushing to the stairs. All my life, you think. I've been a convict all my goddamn life.

You are still repeating the same thought, over and over, when you run through the corridors of the mansion. The same thought when you bang the front door and bathe in the winter's light.

The same thought when Zachary, who was waiting for you outside, point his gun to your face. More than two hours later, it's still the same thought that accompanies you in your last, living day.
action: You look around
response: Smokey Garage (on the steel chair)
You are tied hands and feet to this cold chair, a pool of water freezing under you. A thin layer of smoke dances on the floor.

Three scugnizzi are looking at you, inexpressive smiles on their faces.

Rudolph Mancini is here, cleaning his nails with a knife.
action: You wait awhile
response: Time passes.

"That door. Man, there were not many rules, weren't they? You did open
action: You talk to Zachary
response: You are bound by two nice chains.

"Zach, teach him."

The older of the scugnizzi sends a whiplash smile, then moves in your direction. He drops the device near you and starts it. A soundful engine begins roaring.

That will mute my screams, you find yourself thinking.
action: Wait
response: Time passes.

Zach smiles again and then sticks one of the wires into your left nipple. You hardly suffocate a scream.

Real pain has yet to come. You close your eyes.
action: You check your inventory
response: You're carrying nothing. You are wearing your pants.

The second wire is plugged on your other nipple. A whitening noise fills your ears and eyes as the electrical storm passes through you. It never ends: the holy daggers of the tempest cut through you for ages.

You resist how much you can, then the screaming starts.

You are about to surrender to the night when the wire is removed. It takes you a full minute to recover. When you are fully awake, you notice a small river of blood dripping from your left breastplate.
action: Wait
response: Time passes.

"So, son. You got something to say?" Mancini is teasing at you, the knife back into its cravings. You are about to ask if that will be what he will use to kill you, when a smile widens in your face. The scugnizzi rest speechless.

"Yes," you say. "I've read a book recently. It was titled 'Silence of the Gods'. Do you know it?"

Mancini formal smile disappears.

"Talks about these superhumans who go around saving the world, you know. There is a paragraph, in the book, I really loved. It says: 'The Gods are not mute. If you can't hear their voice, it's because they spend a lot of time thinking'. Do you know what this means? It took some time, but in the end I think I got it."

Zachary lifts the wires and sends a glance at Mancini. "Guess he needs one more, whaddaya think, padre?".

"It means," you go on, "that if something has been working for a very long time, it doesn't mean it will work forever. Do you understand?"

"I'm not following you," Mancini replies. His voice is stale.

"You will, soon enough."

It's in that very second that the door is crushed and four men enter the garage. Zach and Tony turn around just in time to see two bullets each piercing their skull. Johnny tries the other side, but to no avail: One hits him in the leg and the next explodes into his chest like a carnival cracker. Mancini turns slowly and gets to face an old man, maybe in his seventies.

"You have killed my sons," the old man whispers, and in less than a second you recognize him. He was in the pic you found in the album. He's father to Vincente and Vittorio Benelli, and grandfather to Hellen. He is your grandfather. "I ain't lettin ya kill my grandsons, also."

Behind him, you scout the fragile, yet stubborn form of Hellen. She is smiling, although her smile looks a bit cold. She winks to you, and in that wink you finally read an infinite levity.

The Gods have listened, you think, smiling. They have listened and answered.

And -- as you read in that book -- once the Gods have spoken, they have spoken.

And their answer is ultimate.