Baseless Society- with help from Chat GPT. (Written by me)
It was an unusually hot day for September, and enormous crowds of people flocked to the historic city of Cambridge for the Literary Festival there.
Sally Davies and her husband William Darcy were nervous walking through their old university city after more than a decade.
They were here to see a panel of renowned authors. An old friend of Sally’s from university, Thomas Lewis, flew in from California specifically for the event..
Sally and her friend made their way to the front of the crowd, where they faced a row of empty chairs soon to be filled by the panellist. While standing there, Sally ran into Olivia Clark, one of her old friends and a promising poet.
“So, how are you these days?” Olivia said. “Still doing religious stuff?”
“Yes, I’m now a youth pastor in a local church in Somerset, near William’s house.” Sally said.
“Good, good.” Olivia said. “Life’s going well for me, too. Inkwell Innovations isn’t particularly an inspiring place to work, but the money’s good.”
“Have you got any of your poetry published?” William asked.
Olivia sighed sadly. “I gave up on that years ago, hence why I now work in publishing. I suppose Tom will be pleased to hear I finally accepted that I was too dumb to write novels, so I gave up writing entirely.”
“Oh, don’t listen to him! He’s just a snob. Poetry’s just as valid as prose. It’s actually harder to construct a poem than write a novel.” Sally said.
“That doesn’t explain why Tom’s up there and I’m down here, having published his novel.” Olivia said.
Sally looked at Olivia, agape. “You published his novel?! After all, he said to you?”
“I don’t decide which books we publish. I just work there.” Olivia said.
Olivia bowed her head slightly. It was clear to Sally that she regretted the way her life went, but she couldn’t do anything to change that.
“Couldn’t you get Inkwell to publish some of your work?” William asked.
“Probably. But I don’t care anymore. I’m not a writer, and that’s that.” Olivia said.
Just then, Mia White, another of Sally’s, Olivia’s, and Tom’s friends, joined them.
Mia did not write, and was instead a successful literary agent. As well as many over prolific and well-known writers, she was also Tom’s agent.
“You’re enabling his career?!” Sally said.
“Yeah. He may be full of himself, but he can actually write.” Mia said.
William whispered into his wife’s ear. “I’m going to see if any of my friends from Law are here. An hour long conversation about Civil Law would be more entertaining than this. Catch you later, darling.”
William and Sally kissed, and then he wondered off.
“So, what are you doing?” Olivia said.
“Well, strictly between you and me, I’m currently deciding whether to get a manuscript from another one of my clients published. Its content is rather… unsavoury, shall we say.”
“Oooh. Tell me more.” Olivia said.
“I can’t really unless it’s published. The author is speaking here with Tom. It’s not that it contains graphic imagery, more that the opinions expressed in the book are rather… controversial. Well, in the West anyway.” Mia said.
Olivia and Sally looked at each other for a moment.
Micheal Williams; Professor of Literature at King’s College, Cambridge and the only other English member of the King’s Set besides Sally, made himself known.
He dressed himself exactly like Robin Williams in the Dead Poets Society and had a similar personality.
After the usual catch up chat, Micheal revealed something exciting.
“I have discovered a scandal deep in the heart of the literary world, connected to a keynote speaker on this panel. I plan to expose them before they cause actual damage.”
A big, toothy grin appeared on Olivia’s face. “Tom?”
Micheal chuckled. “No, not Tom. Someone else. You’ll know in a few moments.“
After a while, and the panel began. Tom Lewis was the first up, swaggering to his seat with a smirk on his face.
Guy Blunt, who looked alarmingly sinister followed him.
A couple of other authors joined them, and then the event began.
“When I first wrote the words ‘chapter one’, I knew that this was the best book ever written.” Tom said.
Tom didn’t seem to notice the eye rolls from his former uni friends in the front row, mainly because the sound of his own voice preoccupied him.
“Of course, my recent novel will soon surpass this book as the best ever written once I finish writing it, which will be very soon, I promise,” Tom said, laughing awkwardly..
Tom droned on for a few hours, talking about how his novel would overtake the Bible as the biggest selling book in the world. (“The only difference between the two is that my book is based in fact,” he said.)
Eventually, to much relief from the front row, it was Guy Blunt’s time to talk about his book on the Cambridge Five.
“This is a story that has fascinated me for many years.” Guy began. Five Cambridge students gave information to the Soviet Union without being caught for many years and then fled to the Soviet Union. Somehow, their story resonates with me.”
“Perhaps because you’re one of them?” Micheal suddenly said.
There were gasps from the audience, as Micheal stepped closer to the stage.
“You’re colluding with Putin, aren’t you? Handing him information on how Britain is aiding Ukraine.” Micheal continued.
“What on Earth are you on about?” Guy said.
“I have spent what minimal free time I had uncovering a scandal involving an author from Cambridge stealing classified documents from MI6 and handing them over to the Kremlin.” Micheal said.
“You are very much mistaken, my good man,” Guy said. “I needed the documents as research for my novel.”
“Yet the documents never returned to MI6, and Russian forces have thwarted several British backed advances in Ukraine. Something that would only have happened if they had access to the documents you had,” Micheal said.
“This is all completely coincidental.” Guy said. “I have no connections to Russia and am a loyal British citizen. I wholeheartedly support Ukraine.”
“Oh really? Says the man planning to publish a book falsely claiming the Ukraine is an extension to Russia that became independent by accident.” Mia said.
Olivia and Sally glanced at each other; so, that’s the client she was taking about.
Guy flared and leaped out of his seat.
“You bitch! That was supposed to be a surprise for when the book came out!. You’ve ruined everything.” Micheal said.
Olivia, Sally, and Micheal stood in front of Mia, protecting her.
“Oh, hey guys. Didn’t see you there,” Tom said, having somehow only just recognised his friends in the front row.
“I may as well ruin everything, considering I’ve shredded the manuscript you gave me,” Mia said. “There was no way I was going to allow such blatant misinformation to be published.”
Guy became red faced. He growled like a wild dog. By now, some of the crowd and evacuated the marquee. Others stared blankly at the scene in front of them, filming it with their phones.
“Censorship!” Guy growled as he lumbered towards Mia, getting ready to strangle her.
“You know what? I regret nothing, now that I know you were actually colluding with Putin.” Mia said. “Hopefully now justice will prevail.”
Guy leaped towards Mia. Olivia, Sally, and Micheal formed a tighter protective barrier in front of her.
Tom quickly rushed out of the marque, out of fear of getting caught up in the fray.
Before Guy could attack Mia, a couple of stewards restrained him and carefully escorted him out of the marque, Guy trying his best to escape.
Sally, Olivia, Mia, Micheal, and Tom gathered with the other crowds on the grass in front of King’s College, following Guy’s arrest.
“Well, that was certainly not what I was expecting from the Cambridge Literary Festival.” Sally said.
“You know, you could do a lot better if you became a novelist rather than devoting you life to serving a mythical deity as if he’s real?” Tom said.
“Perhaps if you let them into your life, you wouldn’t be such an arrogant prick who brings others down just because they don’t write in your discipline. You may even have the courage to help your friends in need instead of running away.” Sally said.
“Hey! I didn’t wanna risk being killed. I have a book to finish.” Tom said.
“When are you going to finish the book?” Mia said. “The deadline is in a month.”
“I know, and I will send the finished manuscript in time. Once I’ve figured out how to progress with it.” Tom said.
“What do you mean?” Mia said.
There was a brief silence before Tom sighed.
“I have writer’s block, ok? I’m not proud of it.” Tom said.
Olivia, Sally, and Mia glanced at each other before entering into fits of laughter.
“I was hoping to find inspiration in the festival’s ambience, whilst also promoting my recent novel. In fact, thanks to your little escapade, I have found something. I’m going to see if I’ll find even more inspiration over a glass of beer in the pub. Good day.” Tom said, before harrumphing to the local pub.
“You seriously need to vet your clients.” Olivia said.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right.”
After a while, William reunited with his wife.
“Sally! Are you alright?” William said.
“Yes. I’m fine. A little shaken, but I’m fine.”
“The Christian Union is gathering in the Red Lion, if you want to come.” William said.
Sally smiled and linked arms with him.
“It would be my pleasure, Mr Darcy.” She said.
With that, she and William walked towards the Red Lion, and Olivia, Mia, and Micheal walked on behind them, into the sunset.
The Robinsonverse 