103

After telling Ante that they were feeling fine, apart from a mild hangover, Thomas confronted Ante with the fact that he had completely lost control last night, and got himself terribly drunk.

"And you were supposed to be our designated driver," Thomas said, clearly disappointed.
"Well, I was doing fine right until Bjorn came in, suggesting we all take a taxi home," Ante protested.
"No, you were not. You already had way too much to drink."
"I did not! I was drinking the occasional alcoholic beverage, but I was mainly sticking to soft drinks. I was in total control. It was you guys who suggested we take a taxi."
"Because you already had too much to drink," Thomas said, a little exasperated.
"Well... Anyway... Once we decided to order a taxi, there was no need for me to restrain myself, was there?"

There was a pause as Ante took a sip of water from his glass.

"So you know Igor, do you?" Bjorn asked, changing the subject somewhat.
"Yes, he's a good friend of mine," Ante answered with a smile.
"So why did you blank out completely when I told you there's a taxi service in Lundby?"
"I did?"
"Yeah, you did. But Igor must have told you about his taxi service. He's a pretty talkative guy."
"Sure is... Well... Now that you mention it, I thought you were talking about one of those old fashion services. You know... the type you have down in Oslo."
"And?"
"Well... I couldn't quite see it working up here. Lundby is a tiny village after all... But you're right. Igor told me all about it... He even had me download the app on my smartphone."
"And still you didn't make the connection when I told you about the taxi?"
"You know... You really caught me a little off guard when you came in... And I don't see why you're making such a fuss about this... Here, have a look at this... This is the app."

Ante fished his smartphone out of his pocket and clicked on an icon of a car, holding the smartphone at an angle to let Bjorn watch while he demonstrated it.

"So, if you want a lift, you simply type in your location here, and up comes the list of available cars."
"Looks like Igor is offline," Bjorn commented, seeing Igor's name greyed out.
"Yes, he's probably deep asleep, or just getting up... Anyway, if I set the time that I want to get a car to this evening, he might again be available."

Ante typed in nine PM, and sure enough, Igor's name was no longer greyed out.

"But look what happens if I type in some far off place like Oslo as the destination," Ante continued, typing in an address off the top of his head. "You see how Igor is greyed out again."
"Yeah, why?"
"It's because the trip will take too much time... You see here... It says that Igor cannot take the assignment because it takes too much time, interfering with other assignments... Now, if we push this button we'll get a list of all those available to take this particular job... And... as you can see, there's no cars available for this particular lift."
"Cool... and if you type in a different destination?" Bjorn asked. "What happens?"

Ante typed in Lundby village square, and up came a list with three cars, with Igor's name on top.

"And why is Igor's name on top?" Bjorn asked, curious to learn more.
"Because we used him last night, and I gave him excellent marks for his service," Ante explained.
"Well, that's great," Bjorn exclaimed, genuinely impressed.
"It is, isn't it?" Ante agreed. "You'll find it online too. In case you don't have a smart phone."

Bjorn took a sip of his coffee, thinking back to the recent unrest related to rogue taxi services in Oslo, and how the new government finally clamped down on it with full force after a particularly violent riot.

"So this is the service those anarchists in Oslo were so fiercely against?" Bjorn asked.
"Well... This, and similar services," Ante corrected. "They were pretty fierce, those rioters, weren't they? Imagine tricking all those driver into that square, and then come out and beat them up with bats and rocks and whatnot."
"And what for?" Bjorn asked rhetorically. "The poor drivers were helping people get from A to B."
"Tax evasion, Bjorn. Tax evasion," Ante said earnestly.
"Yeah but still, they almost killed one of the drivers," Bjorn protested.
"And then they locked them all up in jail together with the rioters," Thomas added. "Imagine being locked up with those thugs... I'm pretty sure they put them together intentionally, just to rub it in."

There was a pause while the men contemplated the riots that had taken place right after the elections.

"They are a bunch of perverted sadists," Thomas commented, clearly disgusted by what happened.
"Who? The anarchists?" Ante asked.
"Yeah... But the law enforcers aren't much better, are they? Putting those poor drivers in jail together with those psychopaths."
"True," Ante agreed.
"And it's not like it is the first time they did something like that." Thomas continued.
"No?" Bjorn asked, not able to think of a similar episode.
"You remember what they did to Odd, don't you?" Thomas asked.
"The painter?" Bjorn asked.
"Yeah... Locking him up two years... Also for tax evasion." Thomas explained. "With no access to paint, brushes, canvas, pencils... Did you hear what they did when they found him with some paper and a couple of pencils?"
"No, what happened?"
"They locked him in an isolation cell for a week."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it never got a mention anywhere, except briefly by Odd's lawyer, who promptly got replaced by another guy."
"You're kidding," Bjorn said shocked, but also feeling pretty sure that Thomas was exaggerating, and making things sound worse than they were.
"Look it up! The tweet was promptly removed, but you can still find copies of it on the web. And you'll also learn that Odd's lawyer was replaced due to so called irregularities... And have you seen any recent pictures of Odd, by the way?"
"No... The last ones I saw, he was still in court, fighting for his freedom."
"He looked pretty haggard even then, but you should see him now!"
"Yeah?"
"He's a wreck... They are killing him. That's what they are doing. They are making an example of him. People will think twice before trying to evade taxes again when they see what they did to Odd, and how things went with the drivers."

There was again a pause. Bjorn sent Ante a concerned look, sensing that Thomas was getting a bit too excited.

"But tax evasion is a pretty serious crime," Ante suggested.
"Worse than beating someone almost to death?" Thomas asked.
"No, but..."
"Well, the rioters were let out two months ago. The drivers, on the other hand, are all still locked up. Even Lars, the leader of the rioters is out in the free after having organized this whole episode... And now he's up to no good again, heading the anti-Lundby protests."

And that was it, of course. That was where Bjorn had seen the retro punker before. Bjorn knew there was something familiar about the man, but had completely forgotten that he was the one behind the taxi riots last fall.

"I knew I'd seen that anarchist before," Bjorn exclaimed glibly.
"You know," Thomas said, turning to Bjorn. "It's completely idiotic to call that guy an anarchist. Have you ever heard of a tax collecting anarchist? How is that even possible? Anarchist are supposed to be against the state, not working for it."
"Well... it is kind of anarchist to take the law into your own hand, isn't it?" Ante commented in Bjorn's defence.
"No, it is not?" Thomas protested. "Doing that makes you a vigilante, not an anarchist. Anarchists leave people alone."
"I think people like Lars will disagree," Ante countered. "I'm pretty sure I heard him refer to himself as an anarchist the other day."
"I'm sure he does," Thomas said, nodding wearily. "But he is not an anarchist as long as he insists on other people living by his rules. That only makes him an aspiring ruler, a thug convinced that his rules must be followed by others, no matter what."

There was again a pause. Then, Ante broke the silence by saying that he had a hard time getting the image of rock throwing thugs out of his head whenever the word anarchist was used.

"And that is probably why they call themselves citizens down in Lundby," Thomas commented. "The only true anarchists are the gentle anarchists. Everyone else is just out to dominate their fellow men."