Emerging Above the Silence

by James Sandepp

  “Wow it will happen that fast?” I gestured in surprise.

  Amelia nodded. “It is pretty quick once I have the video.”

  We thanked Amelia and went our separate ways.

  FORTY-TWO

  Susie’s choice of a cafe to watch the show from was a great decision, not only since we needed a place to relax, but also because the cafe faced a high-rise building which had a giant monitor screen spanning several floors.

  I couldn’t believe that we, probably the two most wanted people in Vinder, were here sitting at an outdoor table in a cafe in one of the main squares, sharing some food and drinks. It felt so surreal to be amongst the people.

  “How long before it happens?” I signed.

  “A few more minutes I think,” Susie motioned, checking her phone. “Amelia had said around 3.30pm.”

  There were many people at this hour simply walking around; some of them were visitors shopping around while others were office workers briskly moving along to their next appointment somewhere in the city.

  “This could be it,” Susie pointed at the monitor as it changed its content.

  The bright red Vinder news flash sign appeared across the monitor and I was surprised she had been able to use it because it would easily attract peoples’ attention and make sure all of them gathered around the nearest monitors.

  Most of the people walking about stopped in their tracks to watch the news flash and I figured it was a common reaction for them to stop and see what was going on in their city.

  A countdown with a five second timer appeared and then my face took up the entire monitor. It was a strange experience watching a giant life-like figure of me without any disguise or makeup on a high-rise building monitor. This was going to be the first and last time I made such a speech. I hated speeches and it had been a challenge to record this one. Despite my life-like figure, I looked pretty normal and much better than the loner impression the Council and Magistrates had repeatedly tried to brainwash the public with over the last few days.

  The moment my face appeared I saw many of the people around us pull out their phones and start recording, which stunned me. If the Council had any plans of stopping my video it had just been thrown out the window as the recorded video would certainly go viral in a matter of seconds.

  “You are about to speak,” Susie waved excitedly.

  The sound of me speaking was deafening and it seemed like the entire world had stopped as I even saw cars suddenly come to a halt when they first heard my voice.

  “Dear citizens of Vinder and the surrounding towns. My name is Marinette and I was born like you into this world except with one big difference: I am able to speak. I am the first of a new generation and I hope many more will rise up who can speak like me. Today is a new day for all of us and humankind. We, as human beings, have always been meant to speak and it starts right now. I am not dead and quite alive as you can see. However, I want you to know that there are people trying to stop me, such as Dr Liverfield, who created something called “the process” to engineer babies to speak, but her intentions were to keep it a secret, build her own army and kill the birth parents like mine after I was born. I hope the authorities will make every effort to stop her. Thank you for listening to me. Today is a new beginning for humankind. Thank you.”

  And, as fast as it had come, the monitor reverted back to normal content, but the people and the cars outside didn’t move at all as if they were frozen in time. I didn’t know how they were going to react to this speech. It wasn’t something I had thought through in the moment.

  Then, the unthinkable happened. One person standing in front of us, a few meters away, started clapping, a second one joined him and a whole line of people on the street clapped and raised their hands. Everyone around us in the cafe were clapping and we joined in as the people in their cars started honking and it was an amazing atmosphere to be surrounded in.

  “You did it,” Susie motioned.

  “It was a team effort,” I smiled. “I guess the Council didn’t have enough time to shut down their monitors. We did the right thing keeping the speech short. I hope Amelia got away and is on her way to a safer place.”

  “She will be okay,” Susie comforted me. “Today really is a new day for everyone. I don’t know if you could feel it just now out here, but I sensed hope for the first time for many people. It is like something shifted in the atmosphere the moment you spoke, Marinette.”

  I nodded because I had felt it too even in this city with its marvelous innovations; the power to speak had completely taken the city by storm.

  Susie passed me her phone. “Wow! Look who is messaging us.”

  It was Oliver and his message indicated. “Wonderful speech M. I couldn’t have done it any better. You were amazing! We heard people honking their cars in our area.”

  I smiled at his message.

  FORTY-THREE

  I was sitting in a chair on the porch and looking out at the grassy fields extending for miles; it was another beautiful late morning and I was glad we had all made the decision to move to the town of Dewelson and start afresh.

  It had been a week since my speech was broadcast on the media. Right after the broadcast, the Council had shut down all the monitors throughout the city in an effort to regain control of the situation, but it failed spectacularly. The last I heard the video of my speech had been uploaded and viewed billions of times over the Internet across the planet. I was finally famous for the right reasons although it still felt very weird. The next day there had been multiple organised protests by some groups demanding the truth and, despite the fact that these protests were silent, they seemed to have a new sense of energy and urgency. The Council and the military had chosen not to intervene in the protests. Ironically, the Resistance had kept quiet throughout the days that followed, which was expected since I never was part of their plans to begin with.

  Thomson was no longer my home and, although I knew I would miss the place and the school, it was time to leave the past behind; a past full of bad memories, which needed to be buried permanently.

  Someone brushed my shoulder and I glanced up to see Felix holding a cup of tea in one hand and a phone in another hand. I smiled knowing Felix had finally decided to go digital in his newspaper reading routine in the morning and it was seriously about time he caught up with the rest of the world.

  “Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” Felix signed.

  “It really is,” I said. “I could just sit here all day.”

  “You deserve to, Marinette,” Felix motioned. “After everything you had to go through. The planet will never be the same again. Change is coming and it will impact many people in many different ways.”

  In the confines of this new home I had stopped signing and used my voice freely without any fear, which made me feel so alive. I wished Felix could enjoy this ability to speak, but I knew it was not meant to be.

  While we had been away in Vinder, Felix had carefully planned a way for us to move to another town surrounding Vinder. Dewelson had been his choice because it was quite far from Vinder, was less crowded and had many farms like the one we were on, which kept us away from the town, itself, and any prying eyes.

  Dewelson’s population was one which had started shrinking years ago and didn’t have a school or other facilities for children. I think Dewelson was one of those towns the Council didn’t have much interest in and had kind of abandoned, which made it an ideal starting place for us. Once we had returned to Thomson we all left for Dewelson and Felix had managed to use his old contacts to acquire this farm under a false name and, not only did we get a home, but we got quite a lot of land and robots, to tend the farm. We never met the owners and they never asked any questions as they were moving to another more vibrant town.

  “Breakfast is ready, Marinette,” Felix signalled.

  I followed him into the house and in the kitchen, there was a huge spread of food across the table.

  “Do you like it?” Susie gestured
twirling around in her kitchen apron. “Felix and I took some time making all of this silence breaker.”

  I had never expected the former most popular girl in high school to be a good cook, and it was just one more surprise to add to Susie’s long list. Apparently, Susie’s dad was a great cook who had taught Susie all she knew during her early years.

  I grinned at her. “Of course.”

  I was going to miss Susie because I knew she had to go back to her family soon once all the fuss about the video and the speech settled down. Susie would be fine back in Thomson and probably could return to her life although she said she wouldn’t go back to high school, but instead finish her studies at home. The fight to speak and expose the truth had left all of us with our own scars and changed us in many ways; some of which we knew about and some yet to be discovered.

  As I was settling down in my chair, Oliver walked in navigating himself well using an electronic cane and sat down next to me.

  Felix had helped to acquire a pair of visors for Oliver’s eyes which helped him in his navigation and also was linked to his electronic cane. Oliver had been delighted with his new gadget, had quickly picked up using the visor and cane together to move around and would spend hours playing with it.

  “What’s for breakfast, Susie?” Oliver motioned.

  “The usual and more I guess,” Susie gestured with a smirk. “As today is my last day here I think it was time I gave you the breakfast to end all breakfast.”

  “Wow it sounds so majestic,” Oliver teased her. “Since I cannot see it, I guess it’s just breakfast for me.”

  As Oliver grinned Susie nearly whacked him on the head with her kitchen utensils, but then went and explained to him in great detail each food item on the table. To help Oliver hear what we were saying, each of us sent a message to his phone, which translated it to words through an earpiece he had on.

  I smiled as Felix went back to reading his digital newspaper.

  “Oh there is news about Dr Liverfield,” Felix indicated.

  It was the first bit of news to be reported since my speech had been broadcast and I hoped it was a good one.

  “The Council has removed her and replaced Dr Loft as its acting head,” Felix updated us. “It also states that some of those Council members who have been strong supporters of Dr Liverfield have resigned and disappeared.”

  I don’t know if Dr Loft could be trusted as head of the Council, but she was a better choice for now and I was sure the Resistance would be happy having her as the head.

  “Any news on Dr Liverfield herself? Did they catch her yet?” I asked.

  “She has disappeared and no one knows where to,” Felix reported.

  I had expected Dr Liverfield would be hard to catch, but, at least, the world knew of her and she couldn’t hide behind her high positions anymore. She would become another fugitive running from society, but I doubt she would stop her plans to build an army.

  “What about the process?” Oliver indicated. “Did the news mention anything about it?”

  Felix scanned his phone. “Oh yes they have some updates on it too.”

  “The suspense is killing me,” Oliver smiled.

  Felix continued. “The Council has passed a law stating the process and anything related to it are illegal and people should stay away from it. The law was passed unanimously by all the members of the Council. The article also stated some places where potential parents were being held were discovered and the parents were set free.”

  I was glad that something had been done regarding helping the parents and I hoped my speech would keep others away from getting tricked into helping Dr Liverfield.

  “The search was still on-going for the process, but nothing else so far,” Felix motioned. “It seems Dr Liverfield was very clever in moving everything out somewhere. She may have even prepared for a day such as this when someone would expose her process. I mean it is possible for her to plan such things since she had been running the process for years.”

  I had to agree with Felix since the reality was even with my ability to speak and the hidden power it released I was one person in this intricate web of the process, which had been going on for years and years. There could be so much more behind all of this, but I had done my part and had to leave it to others to do the rest.

  As I started eating, Susie and Felix joined us for our last breakfast as a team and I knew it really was a wonderful team that I was going to miss a lot.

  FORTY-FOUR

  Susie walked out of the home with her bags at her side. Felix was going to take her to the train station.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked.

  “My parents are waiting for me and my dad has resolved everything with the Magistrate after your speech was broadcast out,” Susie signed.

  “I am glad you can return to your family,” I declared, rubbing away a few tears. “I will never forget everything you have done for me.”

  I hugged Susie one last time.

  “I wish I had the ability to speak Marinette,” Susie indicated. “So, please don’t ever take it for granted. This is who you are. I hope one day my children and my children’s children will be able to speak because of you.”

  “I am who I am today because of how much you believed in me, Susie,” I stated. “I will always be thankful for it.”

  Susie waved to us and departed with Felix and I knew it may be the last time I would see her since she wasn’t going to be able to come back due to the fact that everyone would still be looking for me and neither would she be able to contact me again. Despite the broadcast I knew there were still people around who wouldn’t mind getting rid of me. I was only one person who had the ability to speak and until many more appeared I would remain an easy target for different forces.

  “One day you will get to see her again,” Oliver signed.

  I hoped so too.

  “There is an incoming announcement on the monitor,” Oliver pointed out and we both went inside and sat down in front of the screen.

  The bright red Vinder news flash sign appeared across the monitor again and then an image of Dr Loft filled the entire monitor.

  Dr Loft started. “Today is a new beginning for Vinder and the Council. I would like to thank all my supporters for staying with me through this difficult time. I hope to lead this city to greater innovations and put the past issues behind us. I especially want to thank the silence breaker, Marinette, wherever she is, for her courage and strength to speak out on the things which have happened. I wish her the best in whatever she chooses to do. Tomorrow we move forward as a city again into the next phase of our development.”

  “I didn’t expect her to thank me,” I stated.

  “Don’t get too excited M,” Oliver motioned. “She is trying to show the public she supports you. It is a way to solidify her support with everyone. I mean seriously you are in the minds of everyone ever since your broadcast. People look to you as a symbol of hope and it will remain so for some time. She is smart enough to know that and acknowledge it.”

  “I agree,” Claire walked out of one of the rooms. “Dr Loft knows how to woo the public well.”

  “You are finally awake?” I smiled. “I hope you got enough rest the last couple of days.”

  After my broadcast Claire had left Lara on her own, slipped away permanently from the Resistance and managed to make contact with us before we moved here. I was glad Claire had made the decision to join us now that Susie had to return to her parents and, as usual, Susie was right; there was a lot of me in Claire and I hoped I could guide her more.

  “What do you think the Resistance will do now?” I asked.

  “I don’t think they will stop being the Resistance,” Claire motioned. “They truly believe what they are doing is right.”

  I looked out of the window. “There is still hope for a better future for everyone now.”

  “Marinette, you do know there is a good chance there could be others like you,” Claire gestured.


  It was a thought which had been lingering in my mind ever since I left Vinder after the broadcast. I had secretly hoped for at least a few other people to appear with the ability to speak, but as the initial days had gone by, none appeared, but I wasn’t planning on giving up. Somewhere in my heart I knew there were others out there who possibly didn’t know they were able to speak yet.

  “I hope so,” I said.

  The End

  UPCOMING BOOK SERIES

  What if you could buy any skill to do any job? What if experience didn’t matter anymore?

  In the city of Anderson, where skills are sold to the highest bidder, Adrien, a former superskiller, sits in a prison cell stripped of all his skills. Convicted of a crime he doesn’t remember, one day he escapes into the unknown. Now, Adrien must learn to navigate a city obsessed with skills, find out who helped him to escape and why and whether there is another way to live life.