by Gadi Migdal
The rest of the city people nodded their heads quietly without uttering a word.
Nola looked at him. “Thank you, Andre, I don’t feel that way, but it’s nice to hear you say it.” She hesitated and then went on, “For a brief moment, after I left the cluster and realized that I was to board this ship, I did indeed feel as though I had been sacrificed for the city’s comfort. I was angry at the council and even at the Whole. Now I understand that being a coordinator is the best thing I could ever wish to any girl.”
Andre smiled at her. “Thank you, Commander.”
“Coming back to the topic that disturbs us, maybe our forefathers intentionally established the city on Neifar because they recognized something that prevented addiction?” suggested Maya. “After all, they searched for a place free of human addiction. Maybe that is the reason that they chose Neifar.”
“As I said, Maya, in my opinion, the reason that so few city people are tempted to try dreaming is the fact of city living. But who knows, maybe you’re right, maybe there really is something in the Earth or in the air there. Maybe it’s because of the Whole? Or something else entirely? I don’t know, but we will keep going with our mission until we find an answer,’’ said Ella.
“It could take years,” grumbled Maya.
“So what?” Ella smiled at her. “It’s nice here, the time passes quickly.”
“And we can eat many festive meals together,” said Guy.
“Maybe print some pizza with anchovies for the next meal?” suggested Nola.
He wrinkled his face in disgust. “Really, Commander? That ancient, greasy food? I can think of a hundred tastier things.”
“I love pizza. My mother would always make me pizza.”
He threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender and laughed. “Comfort food? It’s hard to argue with nostalgia. Fine, Commander, we’ll print pizza too. Actually, maybe we will do a whole evening of nostalgia? Everyone gets their favorite childhood food.”
“Yay! I want crispy Canadian crabs in green cranberry sauce from Third Hampshire, with New Berlin mustard,” declared Ella.
Guy looked at her, stunned.
Tom laughed, “Guy, I think that I should write down all the orders and then help you to print them.”
Chapter 31
Sorrow
“Hello Singa. You are a very, very big ship. How are you? Who wants to speak with me?”
The ship’s computer passed the transmission along to them in the middle of dinner. The voice heard through the speakers was clearly a child’s voice.
The astonished silence at the dining table was quickly replaced by a wave of light-hearted laughter.
“Hey sweetie,” answered Ella. “My name is Ella, what’s your name?”
“I’m Bruce,” said the voice happily. “Ella, are you a dog or a brain?”
“I’m neither, Bruce. I’m a person,” laughed Ella.
“Really?” the surprise in his voice was evident, and he shouted with excitement, “Dad! Come quick. People answered me.”
New Minnesota was projected on the screen. The forest world turned quietly beneath them. They had arrived at their nineteenth world and finally found people awake.
“He’s so full of life,” Nola was delighted.
“Absolutely, Commander Taylor. Maybe even a little too much,” laughed Yonatan.
“And he’s clearly also very social,” noted Ella.
“Yes, I think he’s just really excited to see people he doesn’t know. He’s mostly just seen robots all his life.”
They watched the boy running around the forest with Tom and Bud.
“Look out for the big monster,” Bruce shouted happily, waving his plastic sword at Bud.
“Don’t worry, Bruce the knight, we will triumph over her,” Tom was clearly enjoying the game.
“You have no chance against me, pathetic little humans,” Bud roared. She casually tore a long, thick branch from the tree beside her and waved it over the boy’s head.
“Careful, Bud!” Nola transmitted in a panic.
“Quit being so tense, Your Honor,” Bud transmitted joyfully. “You have to learn how to relax.”
“Run after her, Knight Bruce,” Tom shouted. “I’ll distract her.”
Tom ran in front of Bud and waved the branch that Bruce had given him as a sword.
“Prepare to die, little knight,” Bud raised her voice.
“You don’t have a chance, monster!” roared Tom at Bud.
“This is the end of you, Knight,” yelled Bud coming at him.
“No, it isn’t!” declared Bruce who suddenly popped out behind her and stabbed her with the plastic sword.
“Oh no!” shouted Bud with impressive melodrama. “He got me! It’s all over! What a shame... I so wanted to get you back with my terrible tickling!”
She fell to the ground with a loud thump.
“Have you considered an acting career?” Nola teased Bud.
Bud didn’t respond or move.
“General, that was fun,” Bruce was delighted. “Can we go again?”
Bud didn’t move.
“Is everything alright?” the boy asked and approached the general.
There was no response.
“General, are you okay?” Bruce asked fearfully.
“Yes!” Bud sat up suddenly and caught him. “Now everything is okay. Now you are in my hands, and you won’t be able to escape my tickling!”
“I’m not afraid of you, monster!” Bruce shouted boldly. “I am a brave knight. You can’t beat me with your tickling.”
“Are you sure?” Bud smiled her frightening smile. “Don’t forget that I have four hands to tickle with!”
Bruce’s response couldn’t be heard over the waves of happy laughter.
Tom joined them, and they sat together, looking at Bud and the boy.
“He really loves tickling,” Tom commented.
“Definitely,” said Yonatan gloomily.
“He needs more children to play with,” observed Ella.
“Yea, it’s a shame there are no children his age that are awake nearby.”
“Everyone here is asleep too?” asked Ella.
“Yes,” Yonatan nodded. “There was Anna, our neighbor who is Bruce’s age. They kept each other awake for a long time, but she also went to sleep a few months ago.”
“Kept each other awake?” asked Nola.
“Yes, Captain Taylor, they played together every day for hours.”
“And there are no other children his age on the entire planet?” asked Nola. “You could use a hovercraft to go meet them.”
“No, Captain Taylor. There are no children awake. In fact, there are almost no waking people left in New Minnesota,” Yonatan shook his head. “I think I’ve spoken with nearly every brain, dog, monkey or robot on this planet. All the people are asleep. Nobody intends to wake up anytime soon.”
“So, actually, he grew up without any kids his own age?” Maya asked, sadly.
“Yes. Since Anna went to sleep,” replied Yonatan.
“Lucky he has you,” Guy noted.
“Yea, I suppose,” Yonatan said, sounding tired. “I slept for all of Bruce’s life. I owe him a better life. That’s why I’m staying awake for him for most of the days and dream with the machine at night.”
“Experiencing stories at night and awake in the day? That sounds like a perfect solution. It’s a shame everyone doesn’t do that,” said Ella.
“It’s a partial solution. And I owe it to Adam, my house robot.” He sighed. “It’s a bit sad that an old robot has to explain to me how to act like a human, but the truth is that I still miss the deeper stories, not just the shorter ones that run for eight hours in real time.”
“But in any case, you are staying awake. That’s not to be taken for granted in
this day and age,” Ella smiled at him.
“It’s not easy, but every smile from Bruce gives me the strength to go on.”
“May I ask how long ago you started dreaming, Yonatan?”
He pondered for a moment. “About forty-nine years ago.”
Ella didn’t hide her surprise. “So how was Bruce born?”
He smiled. “By chance. Totally by chance; my wife and I woke up at the same time. It seems that Anna, the neighbor’s daughter was the result of the same sort of coincidence.”
“Where is the boy’s mother now?” asked Nola.
“Tammy woke up two months ago for fifteen minutes. She heard from Adam that I’m spending time with Bruce, said ‘how great’ and went back to sleep. Maybe she’s right,” Yonatan smiled sadly. “Maybe the simplest solution would be to let Bruce go to sleep too. After all, it’s not like there is any future for him in the outside world.”
Nola nodded understandingly. “It’s the same everywhere. If we only knew how to make people wake up,” she noted.
Yonatan laughed. “I don’t think that’s possible, Commander Taylor. Take my parents for example. All their lives they worked hard, they never even tried to experience a simple story for so much as a half-hour in real time. One day they noticed that all of their friends were sleeping, so they decided that they have no reason to stay awake and just went into the machine. They haven’t come out since, and it’s been over forty years. They’re not the exception; the whole world did the same.”
He sighed. “Actually, the Whole galaxy did that. I am only 130 years old but, in my youth, it was not like this. I would speak with lots of human traders. Today I only speak with dogs and the occasional monkey.”
“Only 130? Where we come from you would be the oldest man in the world,” laughed Maya.
An apologetic look crossed his face, “sorry Miss. I forgot about that. I didn’t mean to throw salt in your wounds.”
“What wounds?” asked Maya in genuine wonder.
“Another miserable word choice on my part. Please let’s change the topic.”
“Why? I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maya wondered.
“I was just referring to the short lifespan that has been forced on you, Miss,” Yonatan replied with evident discomfort.
“Forced?” asked Maya as she swallowed a chuckle.
“Yes Ms., as far as I know, on Neifar it’s forbidden to use life-lengthening. I assume that that causes dissatisfaction among your residents.”
Guy was quick to reply instead of the shocked Maya, “You’re mistaken, sir. We have no complaints on that front. All of Neifar is happy to live in the best world in the galaxy, even if it means that our lives are just a third of the length of the rest of the galaxy’s inhabitants.”
“Really? Is that just from the joy of living in the city? I thought that that came from your commitment to support your coordinators,” Yonatan nodded politely at Nola.
Guy was quick to agree with him, “Correct, all of us bear the burden of the coordinators, but nobody feels regret or deprivation because of our way of life. In any case, look around you, at least where we live, it’s real life and not imaginary dream life.”
Yonatan nodded in melancholy agreement, “True. You live. The rest of us dream.”
“Maybe it happens because the stories improved and were made more addictive recently?” Ella suggested.
“Unlikely. A lot of the most popular stories haven’t changed in two hundred years,” replied Yonatan.
“What else could cause this change?”
“I wish I knew,” said Yonatan, a tear dripping down his face. “One thing is clear. Bruce’s generation will be the last generation of humans. There will be no continuation. They will never have children. They’ll just sleep and dream until they die.”
“But it can’t be that kids Bruce’s age are already dreaming. That’s crazy!” said Ella.
“I agree,” Yonatan wiped his eyes. “But those are the facts. There are almost no awake children left in the galaxy, and clearly there are no adults awake.”
“That can’t be!” Ella protested. “There has to be a way to prevent it. We have to understand why people in the city don’t sleep. We have to understand what makes the city different from the rest of the galaxy.”
“Definitely,” Nola agreed. “And we will discover the answer, somehow.” She looked at the child running between the trees and smiled at his father. “Bruce won’t be the last child in the galaxy. The situation is going to change, I promise you.”
Chapter 32
Direction
Eight months and fifty-three planets later, none of Singa’s passengers felt that anything had changed. Until now, they had only spoken with dogs, monkeys, one dolphin, and countless brains. It seemed that aside from one little boy, the entire galaxy was asleep and there were no remaining humans awake to speak with.
Nola’s reports to the First Agreement community of the First Agreement remained the same, “No awake community has been found yet.”
She had drawn names of planets at random and planned the routes to reach them. The situation looked the same everywhere they went. All of humanity was dreaming. The condition of humans in the galaxy was bleak.
This was their primary topic of conversation when they sat down to eat their regular dinner together. Guy, as usual, was responsible for the menu.
Tom was excited. “New Amsterdam was the 72nd world we visited. And everyone is sleeping there too. Do you realize the consequences? It seems that in the entire galaxy, there is only one child awake. In fact, the robots, brains, monkeys and dogs are maintaining human culture. Without them, interstellar trade and travel would cease. Actually, the existence of the human race depends on them.”
Guy muttered gloomily, “that’s not exactly a reason to be happy, Tom.”
“Of course, Guy, but it’s still fascinating. Think of the terms in the First Agreement. The secondary partners are managing everything. Who would have imagined that brains and enhanced animals would manage an entire galaxy?”
Guy laughed against his will. “True. Everyone is just escaping boredom.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that boredom is the reason. It can’t be that everyone is bored to such an extreme degree,” said Andre.
“Do you still think that the dolphin was right?” Ella teased him.
He smiled at her kindly and didn’t bother to answer.
“Hey, maybe we should go to Eternal Eden? After all, nobody’s sleeping there. Maybe they will provide us with a solution,” Maya suggested with a grin.
“No!” Nola was quick to respond. “They are irrelevant to our search,” she added, at the sight of their stunned faces.
“Yes,” sighed Maya. “Because it’s under the control of that psycho with the delusions of grandeur. He thinks that he’s God.”
Nola hurried to take the opportunity to divert the subject, “How did that happen?”
Maya shrugged her shoulders without saying a word.
Guy answered instead. “Because religion, at its core, it a mechanism for mass control. And Thomas is a religious leader.”
Nola was intrigued, “So what? I know for sure that there are other religious worlds in the galaxy. Why doesn’t the same happen in those places?”
“The other worlds accepted the rules of the community, Commander.”
“And Eternal Eden didn’t?”
“That’s right. You see, all of the old religions grew on planet Earth. Most of them attributed a certain sanctity to particular places. The moment that those places were destroyed, the religions were in trouble. Add to that the fact that most of the believers died in the Seventh, or lost their faith along the way, and you’ll find a situation in which religion has lost its power and importance.”
He stopped speaking, and Nola waited for him to continu
e. “The moment that they became ineffectual, the religious leaders that survived rushed to build new pockets of influence. It began in the neighborhoods on the moon where only members of a particular religion lived and continued with emigration to planets that were declared holy or important for that religion. Most of those indeed established healthy, functioning communities, such as New Rome or Mecca II. Unfortunately, in the case of Eternal Eden, a murderous psycho took over, and his heirs have continued in this fashion ever since. In the last report that I saw, it was noted that their current leader is a particularly murderous sadist.”
“But why doesn’t he allow his citizens access to modern medicine and communication?” asked Nola.
“Because if he improves the quality of life of his subjects, all of his power and influence will disappear. Most of the people in his world barely live to age 70 and think that their great leader, who has been living for 400 years, is an immortal God. Nobody has ever explained to them that he received a simple treatment that their children could also get.”
“And despite everything, is life there not preferable to this sleep life that’s happening in the rest of the galaxy?” She insisted.
“No, Commander,” Tom joined the conversation. “The addiction to stories is a terrible phenomenon that is endangering humanity, but Eternal Eden is worse. The people there aren’t living; they’re simply surviving. Their leader isn’t willing to give up his power and provide his residents with a proper quality of life. Therefore, nobody trades with them, it’s against the First Agreement. The phenomenon of slavery, which was wiped out thousands of years ago, still exists there. People are working in sub-human conditions, carrying out tasks that robots could do, and people are dying of starvation and disease.”
