The Schedule of Víhaan

John Clark Smith

A Novel in Verse by John Clark Smith

5 Options

Wherein Hután, while training Aaron

and explaining to Pitworthy the danger he faces,

becomes aware of those lurking in the trees,

and considers how there are six options to get off the island.

 

 

After hearing Pitworthy’s statement that he didn’t invite

Hután, and noticing how unmoved Hután was

by his statement, Aaron, demonstrating a persistence

and boldness equal to an Antigone before King

Creon,[1] shot back at Hután in an irritating

and reproving tone, as if somehow Hután had set these traps,

So you suspected they would visit here,

suspected something would go wrong and still

Carina orders us to rush over,

Musty and I comply and get hooded.

And where has Carina gone, by the way?

to which Hután said nothing, for he had no interest

in logomachy with him or anyone, even though

Aaron was wrong: Hután, as Pitworthy had pointed out,

didn’t know who would visit the island. Hydra did lure

both Carina and Hután, then distracted Carina.

Hután never mentioned or discussed an active mission

in front of a patron, or replied to criticism

on an active mission, or clarified in any sense

what he was doing, or simplified any implications,

First, because his logic wasn’t so irrefragable;

Second, he couldn’t take time in the midst of a mission;

and Third, lest he put his own associates or himself

either in a state of confusion or in more danger—

though he understood and expected others would question

his decisions because he hadn’t reckoned anyone

would visit Pitworthy except for himself—or for his

enemies ever to know about or suspect Pitworthy

as a patron. He hoped, and it seemed true, they still didn’t

know Pitworthy was a “patron” but only some person

who had loaned out his hall for the meeting of the Remnant.

Instead of replying to Aaron, Hután considered

events at the long black counter, took Pitworthy aside

to educate him on what he had learned about the film

on the counter, the green juice, and the lethal smell,

about which Pitworthy said that someone must have planted

these traps earlier, since he was about to take the green

liquid away when the woman surprised him and he sniffed

the odor. The film she couldn’t have sprayed since he was there

in the room before she came. If not Selma and Hydra,

Hután thought, who would know he was here or want to kill him

—or kill the person who drank the liquid, smelled the odor

or touched the deadly film—only someone who suspected

Hután might have had the Schedule but wanted to remove

him—well-known to Hydra and Dvorak as a member

of the Remnant—and in less time than to read a Haiku

the answer surfaced: Dvorak, and if they were present,

then they wouldn’t leave until they had completed their work.

The whole train of thought unraveled finally the puzzle

he suspected from the beginning; that this spot, on which

stood this fairy-tale looking castle belonging to one

of the Remnant’s patrons, could be a kind of arena,

a battleground for the three of them—the Remnant, Hydra,

and Dvorak. Yet in the midst of this group of forces

stood Pitworthy, culpable in other ways, innocent

with respect to the actions of the Remnant, the patron

whose vulnerability would be far less evident

if he hadn’t refused anonymity when he became

a patron, but which now seemed necessary since agents

of both Hydra and Dvorak knew about him and would

begin to investigate what connections he had made,

a path that would fortunately lead nowhere, since all

of his connections would first start with Mannter Limited,

then to his own affairs. But Pitworthy remained recalcitrant

and asked Hután to explain why this special adventure

would pose any future danger and then turned to threaten

and scold him, the very person protecting Pitworthy,

You’re afraid that I might share the glory.

You want to be the hero, want to take

all the credit, want to push me far out.

Well, I won’t have it. I’ve given millions

to this organization and never

do I know what’s going on. But, no, no,

I can’t. That’s the agreement. Well, this is

going too far. To put me and my home

and possibly my family in such

danger and to donate without a clue

where the money goes. No, I don’t think so,

not anymore, find another sucker!

to which Hután was thinking as he listened, ‘Why can’t there

be another who deals with people like this Pitworthy?

What about Aaron? Every time he met him it’s like

listening to Aeneas whine,[2] though Pitworthy wasn’t

the first patron to rail about Hután doing something

frustrating to the patron. Hután was the dog they kicked

when they were angry at the system, since Hután himself

recruited—or more accurately enticed and sold them

with his aura of confidence, assurance, flattering

and calm demeanor. Hután didn’t seem like a scary

covert operative or strategist to the patrons

but a man approachable, sophisticated, refined,

and well-educated—which Hután was—a man

who could convince them, though a risky enterprise, they were

relatively safe; and because they trusted no one else

—Pitworthy would always look to Aaron over Hután—

he had the difficult and thankless task of managing

them diplomatically, since sometimes the charm and air

of truth wouldn’t work. Pitworthy needed to hear something

quite different as they perused the grounds from the window,

and Hután thought, ‘If only Pitworthy could see that truth

may depend upon a walk around the island,’[3] and be

happy with that truth. Would he be satisfied? While Hután

expected movement outside and hunted for any sign

of activity on the ground or in the trees, he pressed

the button that lowered the bars and impenetrable

shades over the windows until the room became almost

dark, an action that startled Pitworthy,

What are you doing? We’ll be jailed in here,

and Hután nodded and chose this point to elaborate:

The people in our group live every day

in a kind of maze, not a life as you

know it. So I ask you to think of your

life, I mean your life with your family,

your life at the breakfast table, your life

as you wash your face and see yourself age,

and this life? What do you see? Is your life

not quiet, tame, calm, and safe? Of course it

is, and that’s good. But that’s not life for us.

This maze and darkness are our life and each

day the maze changes, with its own dangers

and injuries, what some might call evil,

but fear not, “evil serves,” as Leibniz says,[4]

“to make us savor good the more,”

and without people like you, we can’t face

those dangers. Yet now, and not by our choice,

now you have felt the dangers that people

in our group all meet daily after we

wash our faces and have breakfast, the risks

now you have seen in one of our mazes.

And, Mister Pitworthy, you choose, because I’m

not trying to fool or lead you astray.

You choose the game and then you play

it as you wish. It’s your life and the life

of your family; with or without you,

despite traps, we must navigate the maze

because your life, the rules of that life, are—

how shall I say—an illusion. Though we

want you to have that life, we do, though your

safety is often to us—the hunters

and the hunted—unreal, that’s existence,

and we reach the end one maze at a time.

a speech and train of thought and life that Pitworthy—a man

who lived in luxury and self-interest—could never

fully appreciate because he could never know

what the Remnant did. Hután relayed a truth, as Blake would

say, “with a bad intent,”[5] confiding in him in a way

that was trenchant, kindly, and showed respect for Pitworthy

and for what he had done for the Remnant, not succumbing

to silly and shrill beggary or intimidating

with complexity, in line with Montaigne, who ridiculed

those who were intentionally abstruse or deceptive,

because he knew in the end pretension never endures

in the mind,[6] and more than anything, Hután wanted to expose

not the whole truth but the gravity of their position

or at least the semblance of this gravity to subsist

in and ride the waves of Pitworthy’s brain long after all

had departed and the words faded. But Hután did not

expect what happened next, for Aaron approached both of them,

his handsome movie-star face so striking it could obscure

the terror he had suffered and spoke with a unique voice

as creamy as a father soothing his baby to sleep

but with an underlying tone in contrast to the voice:

How is it you decide, oh great Hután?,

and when he blurted this question in front of Pitworthy,

it reminded Hután of a prospect two months ago

who questioned his strategy, and the founder Udaki

intervened and used one of Hután’s lines from Hobbes, which now

Hután himself chose to repeat verbatim to Aaron,

By how much one man has more experience of things past

than another, by so much also he is more prudent

and his expectations the seldomer faile him,[7] words that

forced the embarrassed Aaron to turn away, not only

due to the words themselves, but due to how Hután offered

a comparison between him and impudent recruits.

Aaron’s reaction made Hután realize the effect

his words had on Aaron, forgetting that no recruit could

know, as Hobbes writes,[8] the many “signs” he had seen and could use

to guess accurately the future. So to compensate

for his humiliation, he gestured for him to meet

him and Mustfarris, and then gently explained to Aaron

so only they and not Pitworthy could hear his counsel,

Selma is here and will exchange Víhaan

for the Schedule. She has brought Víhaan here,

and I’m certain that the trees and grounds have

or will have the members of both Hydra

and Dvorak, each ready to attack.

So I want you, Aaron, to be ready

to handle the weapons control panel,

an assignment that Aaron, especially after his

remark, not only didn’t expect—other leaders would

have dismissed or at least have sent him back to Assisi

or the Andaman Islands—but boosted his confidence.

It seemed Hután had chosen to trust him on some level,

though he couldn’t make any assumptions about events

adventitious and not originally planned. Though he

had executed Hután’s strategies, he hadn’t worked

with him—only Carina and Mustfarris ever worked

directly with him. This offer showed the admirable

tendency of Hután he had heard from others, to turn

mistakes into opportunity, to forgive quickly

and to prefer to train the instincts through field assignments

rather than drills, practice exercises, or preaching, a strategy

and words that often worked, even with patrons, as he now

witnessed with Pitworthy, whose words Aaron least expected:

Aaron, you must revere Hután. He saved

us and has always done good work. He does

not deserve such a condescending tone,

then he turned to Hután and reacted to Hután’s short

speech and quickly outstretched his hand for a sudden handshake,

and exclaimed, with a smile and a deferential gesture,

I know what you all do. It’s no secret.

Mannter’s a front for a film company,

isn’t it? That’s why Aaron now pretends

to be doing something else, since these are

secret films of contested areas,

probably for the government, correct?

And others want them. That must be it, right?

That’s why you installed the weapons panel,

since that’s why I had something installed too.

and Hután agreed, then Mustfarris and Aaron followed,

letting the duplicity rest, since Hután believed what

Mencken wrote, “it is the natural tendency of the

ignorant to believe what is not true”;[9] and Pitworthy

was ignorant about the Remnant, so Hután added,

looking directly in the waiting eyes of Pitworthy,

You know too much. It’s time for you to move

into the background, be just the patron

and protect yourself and your family.

That’s your critical work so we can do

our work. So please, go now to the upper

floors, close all of the protective doors, bring

down the upper window shields, set up the

automatic guns and cameras so we can control

them from down here. And do not come back down

until you hear from Carina or me,

putting his arm around Pitworthy’s shoulders, or Aaron,

and Pitworthy’s eyes opened wide when hearing Aaron’s name,

at which point Pitworthy gestured to meet Hután to the side.

Is Aaron handling the weapons panel?

Hután nodded and waited for the expected response,

I could help him. I’m very familiar

with its technical features and uses

and studied it when it was first installed.

to which Hután had to smile, and pointed the father

and husband to the massive door, the only door that led

to the man’s residence above, concluding with a wink,

Let me ask Aaron if he needs your help.

If not, thanks as always for your support

and understanding. I’m sorry for what

happened and the delay in finding you,

as he opened the door and shook Pitworthy’s hand again.

Aren’t you curious what my surprise is?

Pitworthy asked, as he passed a remote

device and a piece of paper, and whispered in his ear:

I had them very recently installed

in case of a sudden emergency.

Use it for two things, weapons and basement.

The black is for weapons, the red button

opens a door to an underground space

with access to tunnels to the shorelines.

Pitworthy closed the door with a loud thud-like sucking noise.

Several bolts and sliding arms fell on the other side,

which not only seemed to lock away the people inside

but to seal them up too from the air itself and toxins.

Hután reviewed his plan and so focused on Aaron’s face

that Aaron at first believed he had blundered,

but then it occurred to him that Pitworthy might have said

something to degrade him, which seemed confirmed when Hután said,

Aaron, from now on you will stay with us

Forget the weapons panel, it’s Plan B,

Aaron’s face flushed in anger and stomped forward toward Hután,

What did he say? He’s a fan, you know that.

I can handle him, don’t worry, it’s fine,

Mustfarris stepped in front of him and stopped him from speaking:

That’s not what Hután is saying, Aaron.

He looked at Mustfarris and then at Hután, straining hard

to imagine why he had removed him from the panel

What do you want? Why must I go with you?

Hután grinned at this conversation and Aaron’s presumptions.

Aaron had been assigned by Udaki to incidents

that could take advantage of his renown, situations

where no one would suspect a connection with the Remnant.

Never had he been in real danger or dirtied his clothes.

Aaron found the grin condescending and wouldn’t let it pass,

Why are you smirking? I’d rather go home.

Hután approached him calmly and gestured for him to sit down.

I want you to work with me for a time

so I’ll know and better understand you,

see your strengths and weaknesses, use your gifts.

I appreciate your many skill sets

and think your appearance, your movie star

status, has crippled you and made it hard.

A long calculating hesitation showed on his face

whereupon, almost on cue—though Hután had noticed signs

of intruders outside prior to the conversation

when speaking with Pitworthy—Wink bolted up, ears raised, growled

while Mustfarris, Aaron, and Hután moved to the viewing

area, opened the slot, and saw three groups in diverse

places, one in black uniforms, genders unknown, helmets

covering their face, walking toward the door in the distance,

while high above them, a helicopter, with guns pointing,

another group farther up in the trees and somewhat more

in the distance, too far to identify, while also

perched above in the trees two hundred meters away was

Carina—her arrival time at the island unknown.

She had left hurriedly and called Aaron and Mustfarris

to replace her while she went to Assisi in response

to a fake message claiming she was needed urgently.

Hután signaled to Mustfarris to join her in the trees.

He quickly hurtled out the door and climbed the nearest tree

to become her backup, her battle mate, be Mustfarris—

a warrior so brilliant and so unpredictable

that Carina laughed watching him defeat his opponents,

as if Aristophanes was writing the combat moves

to satirize the inept professional tactical

training and the futility of war. But the presence

of Carina and him in the trees was very short-lived.

Just as the helmets motioned toward the door, they circled

stealthily around the trees, their guns still not drawn, keeping

an eye on the group of six, an approach even Hután

found daring. Had this situation been a movie, he

would purchase a ticket, popcorn, candy, and a soda,

and watch with great interest with his mouth open in awe

to see what happens. Who after all uses hand-to-hand

combat anymore? But instead he pushed the black button

on the remote device given to him by Pitworthy,                                          

pointed at the long black counter, watched as the undersides

of four long straight areas of the black counters fell off

and revealed a large pile of automatic weaponry.

Hután now knew well that the devious game with the blood,

setting up Pitworthy, Mustfarris and Aaron as bait,

even the encrypted message, was a way to delay

Hután until these intruders arrived. The liquid, gas,

and film on the counter were Dvorak’s designing way

of dispensing with Hután or others in the castle

in the contest to obtain the Schedule—Dvorak not

knowing with certainty that Hután had the real Schedule

but knew his importance to the Remnant—while Carina

instructed Aaron and Mustfarris to support Hután

until she arrived, which they would have if Selma, having

followed Carina, hadn’t then intercepted the plan

when Carina departed and set them and Hután on

another path, the only mystery now remaining

the location of Víhaan, a mystery soon resolved

when one of the Hydra helicopters, finishing what

it had promised, lowered him, like Daniel to the lions,

into the open space before the castle entranceway

beside the main gate, with the Hydra agents’ guns on him,

exposing him to potential firepower from the Remnant,

Dvorak and Hydra, who by now knew who and where Víhaan was

but couldn’t answer the question: How did Dvorak get

the Schedule initially without first knowing Víhaan?

A question with a simple answer: Rohan—who worked for

Víhaan and could access confidential information—

had peddled it to buyers without Vihaan’s approval,

both to surprise Víhaan and put them on the road to wealth,

a familiar obsession of Rohan that Víhaan saw

as an addiction, and so worried him that he both preached

about and suggested viewpoints with another option,

like tales of love and wisdom in the Mahabharata

or the countless spiritual truths in The Platform Sutra

both works they had often studied together in the past;

or reflecting upon certain works of art—for Víhaan

always thought art nourished the spirit and, as Kandinsky

taught,[10] was curative, an antidote to society’s

materialism. Though these ideas might impress

a Víhaan-type man, Rohan agreed to work with Víhaan

only because he thought Víhaan’s genius would bring riches

and comfort. The books and ideas never worked any

magic or path for Rohan, who confessed the foolish sale

to Víhaan and then attempted to steal back The Schedule

from Dvorak—dying in San Sebastian after being

exposed to Dvorak’s poisonous gas—a futile risk

made even sadder since, they all learned too late, The Schedule

Dvorak purchased from Rohan wouldn’t even function

without Víhaan, a key point he never stated to anyone,

proving ultimately to Hután that despite attempts

to correct mistakes, excessive desire can lead to some kind

of death and that “the truth of a man is first what he hides;”[11]

to which another point should be said, easily ignored,

that Hután was now holding and protecting this useless

version of the Schedule Carina pilfered in Krakow

from Prince Andres, an irony that unknowingly now

was mocking Hután as he considered in his mind six

somewhat viable options out of ten he at first chose:

the First, by assuming Hydra wouldn’t injure Víhaan

—a logical assumption since they hadn’t yet harmed him—

a rescue was unneeded, making it best to defend

from inside the castle, which at first seemed a feasible

idea since a stash of weapons was available;

or they could attack the helicopters with weaponry

from the upper floors, impenetrable to most weapons.

Yet on second thought staying pinned up within the castle

might be a foolish idea since Dvorak didn’t know

Hután possessed the Schedule—Dvorak assumed Hydra

had stolen the Schedule from the Prince from a comment

by Carina—and were after Víhaan and Hydra,

though they were unaware who had Víhaan. But no matter,

their intelligence believed the coincidence of both

the Remnant and Hydra being there and Hydra holding

probably the Schedule was too strange for them to ignore

and, if nothing else, they’d eliminate their nemesis

Hután or whoever entered the long black marbled room.

The Second option, assuming that Hydra didn’t want

Hután dead—Selma couldn’t make the exchange if he died—

Hután and Víhaan would escape with Carina fighting

off the helmets beside Mustfarris. But he rejected

this plan because the helicopters wouldn’t hesitate

to kill Carina in the unlikely chance he escaped.

The Third option—surrendering—where Víhaan, Carina,

Mustfarris, Hután and Aaron would be captured by Hydra,

a great prize for Selma, a completely acceptable

option if Hután could use the surrender as a kind

of trap—a Trojan horse—to escape the island; leading

to the Fourth option, where the others would escape quickly

under the forest canopy, leaving him unguarded,

since Hután expected that Hydra pursued only him.

In the Fifth option the Remnant, using the weaponry

in the upper floors of the castle, would attack, aiming

at the helicopter cabin so that the pilot turned

their attention to that direction, allowing the five

of them, pursued by the six helmets, to rescue Víhaan,

escape into the thick forest whose hides Hután knew

well and elude their pursuers, while Musky would distract

all of them, including the helicopter, with the guns

on the upper floor; and the helicopter would surely

have an arduous pursuit attempting to locate them

from a bird’s eye in a carpet of foliage with few

good sightlines of the ground despite the use of satellite

cameras, so arduous that it eventually

would return at nightfall to the castle and wait for what

they would assume would be the inevitable return

of Hután and the others, leaving Wink and Mustfarris,

as instructed by Hután, to remain in the castle

defending if any of the attackers tried somehow

to force entry into the castle. The others then would

survey the area around their own helicopter

on the shore for attackers who might anticipate Hután

trying to escape with his own helicopter. Hután

and the others would surprise and overwhelm the helmets

and bind them together while they returned to the castle.

Option Six, they escape through the tunnel to Pitworthy’s

boat on the other side of the island, a worthy plan

but with the same problem as using the helicopter,

since the helicopter and the dock for Pitworthy’s boat

were both places the enemy would be watching and would

expect Hután to use, even if neither the Hydra

nor Dvorak were aware of the tunnels and access.

All options had challenges, but the foremost obstacles,

noted from the Remnant’s satellite, were the two Hydra

ships off opposite shores observing the docks and the pad,

with the mastermind Selma managing her group of men

on one of the ships across from the pad and studying

each image from the cameras Hydra had placed on each

sector of the island, including the castle region.

Selma’s wide smile was so perplexing to one of her soldiers

that he seemed noticeably perturbed and curtly said,

Why are you smiling? When I see this mess

I ask: Why can’t victory be easy

for once? We must fret about not only

that castle, built like an iron fortress,

but we must worry about Dvorak,

begging the big question, how can we win?

at which Selma laughed, sat down beside him, and then replied,

Read Sun Tzu,[12] Never expect victory

to be easy. Any victorious

warrior must win first, then go to war.

You’re thinking of going to battle first

and then winning, and the lieutenant said,

but still we haven’t yet won anything,

and Selma added:                                                 

Recall the message Death says to Apollo,

‘You can’t always have more than you are due,’[13]

which seemed fatalistic not hopeful to the lieutenant,

even if Death was speaking, but then Selma continued,

Perhaps you think I take this all lightly.

Trust me, they’re not going anywhere now.

We have not only land, water and air

under our surveillance, we have patience.

Your generation is so impatient.

Relax. Try to behave more like Svejk

and care more for a card game than a war.[14]

Hután has the Schedule, we have Víhaan

as the bait. We need only stand and wait

and our prize will be gained with caution

and patience so that in the end we will

prevail before a single battle fought.

a complete enough strategy for Selma and Hydra,

because the one problem with each of Hután’s six options

—he realized in hindsight—was they failed to concentrate

intensely enough on the key matter: They worried too

much about The Schedule and not about Víhaan, hiding

or getting him off the island to at least Assisi

or the Andaman Islands, a problem that Carina

and Hután, to be fair, didn’t fully ignore and knew

they were on an island and had to escape by water

if a helicopter seemed impractical; hence why she

tagged each vessel—when she returned after being detoured—

including the helicopters as well as all the ships,

and also why she carefully instructed Mustfarris

and Aaron to keep Selma busy. Yet Carina

didn’t expect the daring response of Hydra’s capture

of Pitworthy, Aaron and Mustfarris, and Dvorak’s use

of the poisons to kill their enemy in the grand hall—

though some might unfairly accuse her of myopia.

Carina’s success was only partial since she couldn’t

foresee every event, but still her tagging would soon prove

worthwhile when so many of the enemy were present.

 

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[1] In the play Antigone by Sophocles (ca. 497- 405 BCE), Antigone has defied King Creon by burying her brother.

[2] A reference to the complaining character in The Aeneid by Virgil (70-19 BCE).

[3] A reference to Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), “Notes toward a Supreme Fiction.”

[4] Leibnitz (1646-1716), Essays on Theodicy, Part I.

[5] William Blake (1757-1827), “Auguries of Innocence” 53.

[6] Montaigne (1533-1592), Essays, specifically “Apology for Raimond Sebond.”

[7] Hobbes (1588-1679), Leviathan I, iii.

[8] Hobbes, The Elements of Law IV.9.

[9] H. L. Mencken, The American Mercury (1926).

[10] Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

[11] From Andre Malraux, Anti-Memoir.

[12] Sun Tzu (Sun Wu), The Art of War (ca. 5^th century BCE).

[13] From Euripides, “Alcestis.”

[14] In The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk During the World War by Jaroslav Hasek (1883-1923), Part III, Ch. 1, Svejk says, his card game is “more important than the whole war…”

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Setu, July 2025