Two men were in a council registered vehicle, the darkening shadows on the road hinted at the time. They were driving on a stretch of road that cut through a eucalypt forest. The pearly white trunks acted as sentinels to their passage.

“I was surprised when I heard you had requested the ride along,” started the driver. He had a head of short black hair that stood up slightly. His resting expression had a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness. But unlike diamond, which shared the same rating, his face would suddenly come alive when he was talking to someone.

Stanley, the person riding shotgun, was intimidated for the first five minutes of their drive, which began at his house, unsure if this man hadn’t hijacked the vehicle and left the original driver in a ditch somewhere. Now he was wondering if this was the kind of person that would worry about hurting an attacking magpie. His name tag indicated that his name was Aragon Trooper.

“What’s so surprising about a curious citizen wanting to know more about how local government works?” asked Stanley genuinely.

Aragon briefly studied his expression for traces of sarcasm before responding. “Well, let’s just say that I’m usually only stopped by people who happen to have a problem that needs fixing. Don’t exactly have a fan club,” he said before letting out a small chuckle.

“Wouldn’t that be something that they’d just call in for instead of stopping you in the field?” Stanley asked.

“I know right!” he exclaimed with a wide smile. “But you wouldn’t believe the back log of requests we have at headquarters, doesn’t exactly help that we only have one council covering an area of five thousand square kilometres. Guess they just figure that if they stop us when we’re out and about we won’t refuse them,” Aragon continued, scanning the sides of the road that had just turned into grazing land. “Which is true by the way, would look pretty bad if we completely ignored the community we’re supposed to be serving haha,”

“Hmm, that does sound problematic,”

“Yeah,” Aragon said, his expression briefly returning to stone. “But anyway, getting back on track. That’s only part of the reason for my surprise. You’re the guy that’s been stirring up the populace lately right?” he said, giving Stanley a short glare.

“Umm, I guess,” he said, widening his eyes briefly in wariness.

“Cool. At first I wasn’t so sure with how quiet you were when we first started driving. I mean, you’re known for being a bit… Well, passionate about what you’re doing,” he said before letting out a good natured laugh. He again glanced at Stanley, noting his nervousness before continuing. “Sorry, just messing with you. I get that you’re not trying to start a revolution or anything, guess I just had a little resentment at some of the extra work you’ve created for us,” Aragon said before shaking his head.

“I see,”

Aragon spotted some kangaroos in his headlights and slowed down. “Be chill little guys, we’re just passing through,” he said before tensing up, afraid of one of them jumping in front of the vehicle. Once they were out of sight, Aragon slowly sped up again. “Clipped one of those guys once, seemed to get away okay, but I can’t help but wonder sometimes. We have to deal with a lot of dead ones. Bad part of the job," he said with a tinge of sadness.

Silence reined for a short time afterward.

“Anyway, might I ask what you plan on gaining from this outing?” Aragon asked. “I kind of doubt you’re it’s just curiosity,”

“Honestly? I’m looking for problems that need fixing. So basically to evaluate the effectiveness of the council’s efforts at fulfilling their duties, and see what I can do to help, if anything,” he explained.

“Thought so,” Aragon said with a smile. “You might not want to worry about that just yet,” he said with a foreboding sigh.

“Why’s that?”

“Just think you’ll need to keep your focus on that bridge project of yours a little longer. Don’t get me wrong, with the public support you’ve gathered, along with the logic supporting the idea, you’ve already convinced enough people in council that building it would be a good idea. But are you aware that these things usually take around ten years to get done?”

Listening to Aragon, Stanley felt like he’d just been hit square in the face with a rock. “It’s really going to take that long?” he asked in dismay.

“Maybe. But you’re not going to take that laying down right?” Aragon taunted. “It’s not like you’re the first person to put forward an idea like this. It’s just that there’s a reason it wasn’t ever done you know? If you’re going to start helping get things done around here, you first need to figure out where your true obstacles are. And I think you’re about to find your first one,” he said before pausing dramatically.

“What is it?” Stanley asked in bewilderment.

“Bureaucracy,” he answered, recalling the ancient evil that plagues all large systems of government.