24

Geir wasted no time hanging around at the barracks when Bjorn entered. He too was eager to go, but as it turned out, for very different reasons than Bjorn. While Bjorn was eager to find out what the village was actually like, Geir's excitement was all about telling people about procedures and protocol, and generally being a big shot. It soon became clear to Bjorn that Geir had no interest in learning anything. As far as Geir was concerned, the village was no more and no less than a concentration camp populated by asylum seekers and profiteers. A place in grave need of regulations and control, which was what he and Bjorn was going to impose through rigid inspections and clear cut rules for operating businesses like the fish processing plant. Geir was all worked up and was soon busy lecturing Bjorn on the importance of coming across as assertive and authoritative so as to establish the right level of respect for the law and the rules and regulations that define the limits of what can and cannot be done in the village.

Geir was sitting behind the wheel of the red sedan that Ante had used to pick up Bjorn at the port two days earlier, complaining that the check point didn't have a proper military vehicle that they could use to come across more assertively on the population, when Bjorn caught eye of a billboard at the roadside promoting the Lundby Casino. It displayed a glamorous looking couple by a roulette table, and the text seemed perverse considering that the village was little more than a modern day gulag. In gold letters, below the smiling couple, the text read "Lundby, where dreams come true!"

"What sort of a sick mind came up with that?" Bjorn asked, interrupting Geir in his seemingly endless monologue.
"Came up with what?"
"The billboard we just passed. The one with an ad for the casino."
"Well, that is aimed at the scum who come out here from Kirkenes to play, get drunk, and get laid, I guess. This place is a cesspool of vice."
"Really?"
"Its the way of the Samis. They have no shame, and we should never have given them autonomy."
"Autonomy?"
"Well, semi-autonomy. That was the deal when they negotiated this plan. As long as they make sure no one escapes this place, they are free to do just about anything they please, and this kind of shit is what the they come up with. They like to present themselves as poor victims, and close to nature, and all that crap, but when push comes to shove, it's all about making money."

"And what about that apartment building over there?" Bjorn continued, catching sight of the building site he had been observing from the glass office. "Who's going to move in there?"
"The same scum bags who put up the casino, I guess. Some people are out here just to make a quick buck, you know. The factory we are about to inspect is probably no exception. Be prepared to see a lot of miserable people being exploited big time!"

Bjorn felt a sting of guilt as he once again was reminded of the sort of misery he was employed to sustain, and asked Geir if he felt the same way.

"No, I don't," was his short reply.
"Why not?"
"Its either them or us, you know. They are like parasites, and we had to stop them. Now that they have to work while they wait for their asylum papers to be processed, I'm sure we'll soon see the asylum seeker problem solved. It may be brutal for the few true asylum seekers coming to Norway, but the way things were going... You know... Things were really getting out of hand."
"Yeah I know..." said Bjorn with a nod, feeling better from hearing Geir's honest and straight forward assessment of the situation. "We really had to do something. This colony is all for the best. Stroke of political genius, if you ask me."
"Yep, that's the truth, and don't you forget it. It really was a stroke of genius, and I for one... I'm proud of being part of this."