The next day, at the Old Port of Montreal.
The weather was fine, a warm spring day. People were wandering the streets at random, next to the peaceful water of the Saint Lawrence river.
There was no panic, although the atmosphere was certainly a bit strange. One could have wondered why everybody wasn't running and screaming in terror after what happened. But it was arguable that such a reaction would not have been very helpful anyway. There was no better thing to be done at the moment than hanging out with no purpose at all, and wait for the next catastrophe. And maybe enjoy the sun of one of the last days on Earth.
Marvin, when he arrived at the Old Port, felt no disappointment. At a distance, he immediately recognized the shock-headed man who was standing in the middle of a crowded spot on the quay.
Gropius was standing high on a small wooden box. Holding a megaphone in his hand, he was shouting at the passers-by.
Just next to him, there was a frumpy older man with a white beard. He was holding a cardboard sign on which was written "ALIENS ARE NOT REAL !!", while the look on his face was saying something like: "I have no idea what the hell I am doing here…"
Gropius was shouting in his megaphone :
"Don't be afraid! Those spaceships you saw on the screens are not real! They are but mere images, simulacra of some sort…"
The people were not paying too much attention to the loud speech of the disheveled man. They were passing by, a bit taken aback, but not showing too much astonishment. These times were already crazy enough; there was no point in feeling shocked by every manifestation of human weirdness.
Someone stopped in front of the "ALIENS ARE NOT REAL !!" sign, read it and frowned, then started telling off the old man who was holding it :
" Hey, buddy! Don't you know that 'Aliens' is inappropriate?"
"Huh? Is there a typo?"
"No. But it should say 'Exolibs' instead of 'Aliens'".
"'Exolibs are not real' ?"
"Exactly! I mean… no!"
Gropius was keeping on spouting his surreal speech:
"Fear not! I am here to guide you! They only try to scare you into giving up your freedom and hand over your sovereignty to them. Please don't do that! I've been chosen by an ancient and mighty goddess to show you the true path. She sent me as a messenger. I am the one that all the ancient prophecies announced. I am her champion, the ultimate cosmic knight, the leader of the celestial golden armies…"
People were laughing around.
"I have been chosen to be her high priest. She comes from a very distant galaxy to save us from our illusions!"
Someone shouted back at him from the crowd:
"Hey, man! You're telling us that this phony goddess of yours comes down from a distant galaxy, but she's real? And the Exolibs are not?"
"Yes. This is correct."
"Haven't you seen the images of what happened in Norway?"
"Just images. Illusions. I don't know how they make them. I know they seem real, but they're not. I can't explain…"
"Man, these are serious matters! It's really inappropriate to make fun of what happened. You should feel ashamed!"
"I'm not making fun of it."
Marvin was really close now. He was ready to elbow his way to Gropius and finally speak with him.
But at this very moment, a police car arrived just in front of the orator, dispersing the crowd. Two policemen came out of the car and went straight to Gropius. Marvin saw them asking him to come down from the box, while Gropius' old friend discreetly moved away and disappeared among the observers gathered around.
Gropius lowered the megaphone to respond to the police, so his answer was inaudible to Marvin. It was clear, though, that he was trying to explain what he was up to, and convince them of something that, unfortunately, they just couldn't consider as serious. Finally, he stepped down the box.
Marvin felt surprised to see that, now, the policemen were putting handcuffs on Gropius. The next moment, one of them was pushing him towards the car. As they came closer to Marvin and went past him, Marvin could hear Gropius gently protesting :
"But, officer, I was doing nothing wrong…"
But he still got his head pushed down towards the inside of the car and forced to take his place on the backseat.
Some people were cheering around. The policemen pushed them back, got in the car, and drove away with Gropius sitting quiet, but disconcerted, at the back.
Marvin found it very surprising that the police would bother to arrest someone who was doing no harm at all, only casting his preposterous thoughts loudly. It seemed even more unexpected when the same police was doing nothing about those who were rampaging the city at night, burning cars and breaking windows, or about the people who were openly stealing from the supermarkets. Why would they come after such an inoffensive guy? Who was so disturbed by his speech?
While asking himself these questions, Marvin didn't lose track of the man who discreetly evaded the police and was now heading towards the small streets of the old town.
Gropius' friend was looking like a bum, poorly dressed and not too clean. He had probably enough experience with street life to be able to sense when trouble was coming his way. He probably knew that when the police was around, someone like him should better move away quickly.
Marvin went after him, but the old man instinctively felt that someone was following him. He hurried up and hastily turned the corner of the street. He was quite old and also maybe a bit drunk, so he wasn't moving too fast. It took Marvin a little sprint to catch up. He ran past the white-bearded bum and stopped him:
"Hey! Wait! Wait, sir. Please. You are Gropius' friend, aren't you?"
"Never heard that name."
"C'mon, you were with him over there just a few seconds ago."
"No, I wasn't."
"Hey, I'm not the police. I don't mean to cause you any trouble. I also know Gropius. You are…" Marvin struggled to remember the name of Gropius's friend that he heard him mention the first time at the bar. "You are… Elio? Or Horatio?"
"Emilio."
"Emilio! Right. I'm Marvin. Pleased to meet you."
"Are you also one of Gropius' friends?"
"Well, yeah. More or less. Look, if you don't mind, I've got a few questions to ask you."
"Sir, I've got to go. My schedule is very loaded."
"Certainly. But, maybe I could… buy you a drink? Could we maybe go sit somewhere and have a beer?"
"Well, I've got all these things to do, for sure. But, hey! Catch me running away from a beer…"