Blakes 71978

[Blake has been invited to a rebel meeting several years after his brainwashing]

Bran Foster:
Now, I want you to listen to what I have to tell you. After that you can do whatever you like.

Roj Blake:
All right. Now what do you know about my family?

Bran Foster:
Well, I'll come to that. There are other things you should know first.

Roj Blake:
Forget the other things. Just what do you know?

Bran Foster:
They're dead. Your brother and sister are both dead. I'm sorry, I didn't intend you to hear it like that. They were executed four years ago just after your trial.

Roj Blake:
[disbelievingly] Executed? No, that's not true. I hear from them regularly. I had a vistape only a month ago.

Bran Foster:
Those tapes are fakes. Part of the treatment to keep your memory suppressed. Now, this isn't going to be easy for you, but I'm going to have to tell you things about yourself of which you have no memory. Will you hear me out?

Roj Blake:
Go on.

Bran Foster:
Four years ago, there was a good deal of discontent with the Administration. There were many activist groups. But the only one that really meant anything was led by Roj Blake. You and I worked together. We were outlawed and hunted. But we had supporters and we were making progress. Then someone betrayed us, I still don't know who. You were captured. So were most of our followers. They could have killed you. But that would have given the Cause a martyr. So instead they put you into intensive therapy. They erased areas of your mind, they implanted new ideas. They literally took your mind to pieces and rebuilt it. And when they'd finished, they put you up and you confessed. You said you'd been "misguided." You appealed to everyone to support the Administration, hound up the traitors. Oh, they, they did a good job on you. You were very convincing. And then they took you back and erased even that.

Roj Blake:
What happened to the others?

Bran Foster:
In their benevolence, the Federation allowed them to emigrate to the Outer Worlds. Like your family, they were executed on arrival.