Sallas 2: The Gilded Cage

Chapter Description: Ryan goes to work knowing what The Rose Resistance wants from him. However, when he hears about the latest developments in Sallas, as well as something about the person he's supposed to save, it gives him reason to pause.

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Ryan was nervous from the moment he used his ID card to enter the building. He couldn’t shake the idea that everyone knew what he was doing, or at least that he was about to do something he shouldn’t. He thought he saw people watching him, but they usually just gave him a quick smile or a little nod of greeting. He had to stay calm, act like nothing was wrong and everything would be fine.

After barely sleeping the previous night Ryan felt like he was running on adrenaline alone. He had gone back and forth over what he was going to do. He wanted to plead with Anna to see things his way, to tell her that he hated the idea of Jane being regressed permanently but surely it was better than all three of them ending up that way.

It wasn’t that Ryan wanted Jane to be regressed to little more than a baby maid, but this was such a risk to take. He had only made his mind up about what he was going to do when he left the house that morning. The elevator arrived at his floor and the doors slid open for him to step out.

“Good morning, Mr. Manning.” Isaac, the man on reception said.

“Morning.” Ryan replied.

Having been working in the government building for a little while Ryan was starting to become settled. He hadn’t been used to people greeting him cheerily every morning and he had to remember that as their boss he couldn’t become too friendly with them. Though it might be more accurate to say he was the boss in name only. The real power came from Mr. Taylor and others a level above himself, Ryan had to do as he was told just like everyone else in the highly stratified society.

Ryan walked through the reception area towards his office. He tried to ignore the beseeching looks from some of the people in the waiting room, to many he was a villain, the man who sent women away, it didn’t matter to them that he didn’t like doing it when he was still rubberstamping the forms. Most men had little problem with that but for some it was a major inconvenience. Ryan still couldn’t get used to it. Men who came to the office frequently complained about their wives or daughters being sent to Finishing School not because of the terrible things that were done to them there but because they were losing a piece of property.

In his office Ryan put down his briefcase and sat in his chair. No sooner had he booted up him computer than there was a knock on the door. Before he could say anything, Wayne Collins was stepping into the room with a stack of papers.

“Good morning.” Wayne said.

“Hello.” Ryan replied. He felt, as Wayne’s manager, that he should really admonish his employee for coming in uninvited, but he was worried about trying to assert authority he very much didn’t feel he had.

“I’ve got some more work for you this morning.” Wayne said as he dropped the stack of papers on the desk, “There’s a new Finishing School opening, it’s a bit different to the others and… well, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about it.”

“Thanks.” Ryan replied with a smile that he hoped projected confidence.

Ryan had heard nothing about a new Finishing School or anything else. His employees might’ve assumed that he knew what was going on, but he was frequently overlooked. It was on purpose, he was sure of that, he wasn’t welcome there. Ryan only had this job because of Anna and the value she could bring to Sallas. If possible, they would prefer to just sit Ryan off to the side where he couldn’t cause any trouble.

Which brought Ryan right back to what he was planning that morning. Wayne soon left the office allowing Ryan to start working through the files he had to rubberstamp. Another soul crushing day of sending women away to a fate he didn’t even want to think about. He reached over to the files Wayne had left for him and felt his heart skip a beat. Ryan flicked through several of the folders, and they all had one thing in common.

“Men…” Ryan muttered.

Of course, Ryan knew that there had been some trials of expanding the Finishing School system to include men, but this was the first time it had come across his desk. The first concrete evidence that, despite the hyper-masculinity of Sallas, the government were fully prepared to suppress all dissidents no matter what gender they were.

As Ryan started reading the files in more detail, he realised they had more in common that just their gender. All of them seemed to be charged with the same type of crime. Though the wordings were slightly different he knew they all meant the same thing.

“Anti-Government Activities, Treason Against Men, Promoting Feminism…” Ryan read through more and more files.

All these men had been arrested for working against Sallas. It was enough to give him second thoughts on what he was going to do. Was it a coincidence that these files came across his desk on that day of all days? Was he being sent a message? One slightly less subtle than Thorn’s phone call. The crimes these men were charged with were often the same things he had been accused of before getting kicked out of college. Most of these men did stuff a lot more innocuous than what he was planning to do that very day.

Ryan pushed these new folders to the side as he started working on his usual workload. He had been so sure he was going to help The Rose Resistance before coming into the office but now he felt paranoid. It was always horrible to rubber stamp the transport of people to Finishing School, but that morning Ryan felt as if it was affecting him a little less than in previous days. He prayed it was because he was distracted and not because he was becoming callous about the whole thing. He didn’t want to become a person who condemn others without pity.

It was midway through the morning before Ryan turned over the cover of a file he both knew was coming and almost prayed wasn’t there. Lynn West, charged with terrorism and subversive activities, was to be sent to the most notorious Finishing School for a lengthy stay in the most severe program.

Ryan swallowed nervously. This was who Thorn had been talking about. He looked at Lynn’s picture. A young woman with a look of defiance on her face despite and black eye and bleeding nose. Whether these injuries happened during the arrest or the “interrogation” Ryan didn’t know. As he read more, he was increasingly shocked. Normally the crimes of women were massively overstated. He expected her to have done some protesting or vandalism, something that was unwise as a woman in Sallas, but not worthy of the sentence handed out. Instead, he saw something that gave him even more pause for thought.

“Attempted Murder of a Government Official.” The text read.

Ryan had been given no inkling that the woman he was trying to save was accused of such a serious crime. Thorn had given no hint to the severity of Lynn’s actions. Though if Lynn was truly a member on The Rose Resistance then the act was likely ordered by Thorn herself.

Ryan questioned if he was really going to do this. No one deserved Finishing School but if Lynn had done what she was accused of then she really did deserve some sort of punishment… didn’t she? Or maybe, when acting against an immoral regime, what was considered right and wrong changed. Ryan hadn’t expected to be given such a moral quandary, he thought he had steeled himself for what he needed to do, now he was wavering.

Pushing the file to one side Ryan started working through some of the other files. His mind constantly turned over what he had to do. He had convinced himself that it wasn’t anything too major, that he could write it off as a mistake if anyone noticed. Would he be believed? He was already considered suspicious after all.

In the end the only thing that spurred Ryan into action shortly after a lunch break that involved him simply staring at the file was Anna’s threat. Anna’s threats of running away with Jane were sincere, he had no doubt she would actually do it no matter how doomed to failure it was. That was the type of woman Anna was, it was one of the reasons he loved her… and one of the reasons she could be incredibly frustrating. The right thing, for Anna, was worth any price.

Ryan resolved himself to do what he had to do for his wife. He pulled the file over and felt his hands shaking as he looked at it. If he had known Lynn was accused of such serious crimes he wouldn’t have even considered this, but he felt committed now. All he could do was hope that the government were lying about Lynn’s crimes, it was certainly something he wouldn’t put past them.

Taking his pen, Ryan started making some alterations. Normally he would just rubberstamp the bottom of the page and approve the recommended punishment but this time he was writing in his own notes. He went through the process of changing the punishment, there was no way he could just free her, but he could have her transferred. He crossed out the name of the most notorious Finishing School in Sallas and swapped it for one that had a fairer reputation. He crossed out the harsh penalties being imposed to make it just regular regression. It was the best he could do, and he was already walking a very tight line. If Thorn wasn’t happy with that, then he was afraid he could do no more for her.

Ryan stamped the form and filed it away. His heart was hammering. The form wouldn’t be taken until near the end of the workday, in the meantime he was going to sit at his desk with it right next to him. All he could do was constantly worry about whether he had done the right thing. If he was lucky, it would be processed and filed without any scrutiny.

Work never went fast for Ryan. His job was soul crushing to him, and it was made all the worse by the incriminating file sitting in a stack on his desk. He kept looking over to it, every idle moment made him question his decision. The temptation to pull it back out and change it back was overwhelming. Eventually he had to stand up and walk away from his desk even though it wasn’t time for a break.

Ryan walked down the corridor towards the break room. He was rather surprised to find he wasn’t the only one as he entered through the door and went over to the coffee machine. This wasn’t a room he came into often; he preferred not socialising with the others whenever possible and ate his lunch at his desk. On the couch and stretched out confidently was Wayne.

“Hey, boss.” Wayne said.

“Hi.” Ryan replied.

“Tough day, huh?” Wayne asked.

Ryan froze up at the coffee machine. Did his employee know something was wrong? The drinks machine whirred to fill the silence as Ryan tried to work out how to respond. In the end all his stressed brain could do was push out half-formed thoughts.

“I… I…” Ryan stuttered dumbly.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.” Wayne chuckled, “I just never see you outside your office and you look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“Oh, right…” Ryan turned back to the coffee that had now filled his mug. He wished he hadn’t left his office, “Yeah, just a bit… tired.”

Wayne was usually the man to come into Ryan’s office if something needed to be communicated. The other employees were almost invisible, quiet and diligent like animals who knew they weren’t the leader of the pack. The leader appeared to be Wayne who had set himself up as the liaison. In turn Wayne was supposed to be subservient to Ryan, but the latter rarely used the little power his position granted him. It just didn’t feel right. He got the feeling this weakness, as it was seen to be by the other men in the office, had been sensed and that they were watching and waiting. It wasn’t the best environment for work to be done.

“How are you finding the job?” Wayne asked.

Ryan turned back to face the room. He thought about going right back to his office but that might be showing too much weakness. As much as he wanted to leave, he instead went round to the armchair opposite the couch and put his mug on the table.

“I’m, erm, getting the hang of it.” Ryan said, “You know, slowly but surely.”

“It’s a piece of piss.” Wayne laughed, “Just tick the right boxes and send them up the chain. Pretty hard to mess it up.”

Ryan smiled stiffly and then drank some of his coffee. It was still far too hot, and he coughed a little as the liquid burned his throat on the way down. His one excuse if he was caught was that he had made an innocent mistake, it felt like Wayne was deliberately making sure that Ryan had no excuses for what he had done.

“Hard to believe they pay us for this.” Wayne continued. He was apparently unaware of the discomfort he was causing, “Seeing some of the stuff these bitches pull I’d do the job for free.”

“Yeah…” Ryan replied.

A silence settled over the room. Ryan felt supremely uncomfortable and filled his time by drinking his coffee and hoping the situation somehow magically improved. Wayne watched him seemingly immune to the discomfort in the room. Every single breath Ryan took was second-guessed by his anxious brain, each movement somehow questionable to him. It felt like the way he was drinking his hot drink was somehow going to give everything away.

“Well, I had better get back to my desk.” Wayne eventually said, “In case the boss comes down.”

Ryan bristled a little. He was supposed to be Wayne’s boss, but it seemed clear the other man didn’t see it that way. Ryan pursed his lips in a thin smile and nodded his head. He was just glad that his employee was leaving the room.

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