Planetfall

by L. E. Howel

  “Every choice that you think you have has been engineered. Whether by parents, or experience, or employers, or fear, or religion, or politics, or lust, or love, or duty, it doesn’t matter. You make no free choices. Instead these conflicting influences lead you into a whole cascade of contradictory, purposeless decisions that will lead you nowhere. No wonder so many lives end worthlessly.

  Imagine a better way. Imagine lives being planned. Imagine if someone had gone ahead of you who knew all the dead ends, all the sorrows, and all the hazards that lay before you, and they closed those roads. Only the best way remains. You know that in the ancient world all roads led to Rome. In our modern times, all roads lead to happiness. Isn’t that a better way?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because even God put a tree in the garden.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that life without freedom is no life at all. We were not made for safety. We were made to be free.”

  “Freedom?” Michaels rolled the word on his tongue, as though tasting it. “The beautiful illusion. Many have fought for it, some have even died for it. Few have experienced it.

  “If you are fortunate you may live in a country where the illusion of freedom is more potent. The powerful will let you imagine you are free until your rights conflict with their interests. The strip mall could destroy your home; the power company could fell your trees; a road could be built through your living room. All of these things happened to the little people, and the law allowed it. The freedom of the individual meant nothing and power meant everything. This was acceptable, but this was not freedom. Yours was a government of the powerful, for the powerful, by the powerful. It was not free. It was expensive, and those who could afford it bought it.

  “All they needed to finish the job was a crisis. Real or invented, it didn’t matter so long as people panicked, so long as they learned that they needed the powerful to protect them.

  “In their panic they would grant that government greater freedom to snoop and pry, to take away even some of those illusions of personal freedom. In protecting they would endanger. In fighting tyranny, tyranny was accepted. People wanted safety, and so they accepted it. They wanted security, and so they applauded it.

  “They thought they were safer behind the walls that were erected around them, the very walls that imprisoned them. It was a vain hope. The days of safety behind the castle battlements were long over, that era went with gunpowder. Still the people hoped, but no wall could ever be built high enough to keep all the dangers out. It was far easier to build a wall to keep them in, and that is what their government did.

  “If you love freedom, Major, you should love me. I have restored freedom, the freedom to be happy. I do not seek my own benefit. I have done what all governments have claimed, but few have ever done. I have put my own interests aside. I live and breathe in this darkened tower for the good of others. I have sought the common good.”

  Michaels opened his arms wide, spreading out his open hands, palms up, in a gesture of pitiful supplication. Thomas Birch was probably the only person in the whole world who knew Michaels’ heart, who knew his plan for the world. In a strange way Michaels needed the approval of this one man, this one pitiful example of human flesh, to know that it had all been worth it, that his sacrifice had not been in vain.

  “I helped. I did it all for the common good.” Michaels murmured again.

  “Through manipulation!” Birch thundered. “Through taking away their chance to know anything else! You think you are different, but you’re like every other petty little dictator that ever lived. You may be able to kid yourself, but it’s all the same old lies! You’re on a power kick and want to control everyone else! Well, whatever you’re trying to do here will fail in the end.”

  The words stung Michaels. He shook his head dolefully. “The sad thing is I think you’re right. I’ve seen it. All human endeavors are doomed to fail. Whatever noble and good thing we try to do, we will not achieve it, because everything has our fingerprints all over it. Our imperfections show through in everything we do. We can’t help it. Everything we build, whether it’s as complex as an empire or as simple as a toy, it will be destroyed because of the mistakes we make when we build it.

  “The greatest example of this truth is this country’s own Liberty Bell. Like the democracy it represented it was imperfect from the very beginning. The problems weren’t obvious; no one could see them, but they were there from the start, when the metal was poured into the mould, and so the bell cracked. It became a useless ornament that couldn’t serve the purpose it was made for, and this is what we all do. We try to do good, but we never achieve our purpose, and the only enemy we can blame is ourselves.”

  “If you know that everything fails, then why try?” Birch remarked sourly. “Why all these big plans?”

  “Yes,” the president sighed, “I see your point. I once was close to that conclusion myself, but we must hope. Perhaps I have finally found the balance, the perpetual motion that will keep my plans in place. We will see. Time will tell.”

  “I hope you’re wrong. I hope you fail. I want no part of this,” Birch snapped.

  “I’m sorry you see it that way, but it is unimportant. I don’t need to convince you. What I am doing is for the good of everyone. Like the Ares, you disagree, but like them you do not possess the power to do anything about it.”

  “You watch me,” Birch thundered as he rose from his chair, moving menacingly toward the president.”

  “Ah, yes, brute force. That is your only recourse. Sit down, Major Birch. You can’t win. Whatever you do to me can’t stop this. You have no choice. We need you, but your cooperation is not necessary.”

  Birch paused. “What do you mean?” he asked. Something in the old man’s voice was alarming, more threatening than any more obvious intimidation.

  “We are all in trouble, Major. Humanity’s history is filled with mistakes, and the more power we get the more dangerous these mistakes have become. Genetic experiments and all manner of scientific tomfoolery has led us here. They blundered into it without understanding the repercussions, and it has worked a powerful evil that has been hard to fight. The very things that were supposed to improve our lives have put them in peril.

  “Power and money spoke. They allowed their own people to become their experimental lab for genetic alterations and modifications in the food chain. Why? Because it was cheap, because they could, and because some faceless committee somewhere decided it was a good idea. And for that the world went down. They did it because the people were not their constituency and because they didn’t care. But they hadn’t foreseen the long term effect, and once it had gone wrong it was hard to put right. No one was spared. They got their cheap food, but now we all pay the price.

  “We’ve fixed the food, but the human genetic material we’re dealing with today is degraded. The producers of this food, no doubt, would have described this as an ‘unforeseen circumstance’ in the annual financial reports. I describe it as what it truly is; the murder of a generation. It is not general knowledge, but all that we have worked for is in jeopardy. Within the next five to six hundred years humanity will be extinct. We’ve killed so much on this planet with our reckless attitude, now we’ve finally done it to ourselves. Nature must be laughing.”

  “Okay,” Birch snapped angrily, “so you guys have ruined the world. I expected that. I don’t see what that’s got to do with us.”

  “It has everything to do with you. You left before the worst experiments took place; your bodies did not absorb the destructive elements that our ancestors did. You are our reset button, the chance to restart the biological clock, back to a time before we undid ourselves. The material you three can produce will save us all.”

  “And what if we say no,” Birch fixed a hard stare on the man. His expression didn’t alter.

  “I wish you wouldn’t,” his half smile was back. Suddenly it looked like a smirk. “It won
’t make a difference either way, of course. You understand. There is too much at stake.”

  Birch did understand. They were about to be torn down to put up a strip mall. Now he raged at himself. All of his instincts had been right. From the very beginning he hadn’t trusted these people, but still, like a lamb, he had allowed himself to be led here to this.

  Thomas Birch understood their position perfectly. Clearly President Michaels had the best of intentions; he was nobly motivated, and he was completely evil.

  The most dangerous predator wasn’t the wolf disguised as a sheep. It was the wolf that believed they were a sheep. There was no limit to what they would do in the name of righteousness.

  FORTY-FIVE

  Birch was brought back into the great hall by the two guards from the golden doorway. They placed him in one of the angular chairs and resumed their former position by the entryway, as stolid and resolute as before.

  For a time Birch sat brooding silently. The others still hadn’t returned and he was left alone with his thoughts. They had no choice about what was going to happen to them, Michaels had made that clear. The only single freedom he had been permitted was the choice of what to do about Jane and Lauren. That was a freedom that couldn’t be avoided. Even President Michaels couldn’t withhold that.

  Birch was the only one that knew. Jane and Lauren had been presented with the beautiful illusion of what this world was supposed to be. He had seen the truth. The question was, should he tell them? Should he steal away the security and peace they felt in this place, even if it was only a fantasy. His natural answer would have been yes. He would always take truth over falsehood, but Michaels had made him doubt his instincts.

  “You are free.” Michaels had informed him. “You are free to tell them what you know, or free to conceal the truth from them. Which do you think will make them happier?” The elderly president had been clear about his thoughts on the matter. Birch was the kind of person, he imagined, who could endure the truth, but why burden the others with it? Let them have their dream. Let them enjoy the life they imagined they had. Then they could live their lives in contentment, knowing that they were truly happy.

  It could all be done with subtlety. Birch would know they were in the envirodome. The constant buzzing in his ears would remind him. This was the side effect of the extra ampage needed on the settings to make the illusion stick in his disbelieving mind, so Michaels had said. He would know that everything around him was a lie, but the others would be free. In their mind they would be free.

  Sometimes the technical crews would come. At night they would pump the dome with gas, knock them out and collect what they needed from them. They would never know. They would wake the next morning, stiff but unknowing. Their lives would be full, happy, and false. This was how Michaels had put it. Why steal away their happiness?

  The idea made sense to him, but it also repulsed him. Why would he plunge these two into the same despair he was experiencing now, and yet how could he lie to them? He hated lies. And yet this was the one freedom that Michaels had left him- the freedom to lie.

  Birch sighed and folded his arms in angry futility. He knew what he would do. He didn’t like it.

  The great golden doors opened and the others walked in. Their voices were buzzing with hope and optimism. They liked what they had been told. Even Jane looked animated and hopeful at the prospects they had been promised in this new world.

  Birch watched gloomily as Jane and Lauren smiled and laughed easily with each other. Their burdens had been lifted. Their weary journey was done and they were home. At least that’s what they thought. Edwards, on the other hand, seemed subdued. His eyes were shifting between them and the door. Something about what he had seen in there had shaken him. He looked thoughtful and worried.

  The group was quickly herded out and thrust into the waiting elevator. The doors had hardly shut before they were plunging down to earth again. The two soldiers stood glowering at them as they guarded the door. Their hands were on their weapons but Jane and Lauren hardly seemed to notice. Birch looked warily into their stony faces. He didn’t like what he saw there. Even Edwards had a strange, distant look to him. He wouldn’t look at him. The false cordiality was wearing a little thin, and to Birch’s knowing eyes they were simply prisoners being pushed from one place to another.

  Birch cast a cautious glance at the men’s guns. His mind was already racing, grasping for any hope of escape, but the truth was not encouraging. In these cramped quarters there wasn’t a chance, and he imagined the guards would be their constant companions from now on. They had walked into this, but there wasn’t any easy way to walk out. They would have to fight to get away. Soon they would be back in the envirodome. Then they would never get out. They had to get away before they got back. He just didn’t know how.

  They were soon at ground level again. They were marched through the doors and into the waiting vehicle at the front of the tower. Their truck sped quickly away on a route returning them to the house they had left hours ago. It had felt like a prison to Birch before, but now he knew that it was he shuddered at the thought of going back. How could he escape?

  He watched the idyllic landscape passing before his window and considered the options. The germ of an idea came to him, but he doubted that it would really work. Still, it was something, and that was better nothing, than just sitting and watching their freedom disappear.

  It was a simple plan, if you could call something so direct and so stupid a plan. He would wait until the guards looked distracted and then jump them. That was it. It wasn’t smart; it wasn’t even likely to succeed, but it was something, and that was the important thing, doing something. With any luck he would be able to grab one of their weapons and see what happened from there. Perhaps with hostages he could force their release. Then they would just have to see how far they could get. It wasn’t a great chance, but then he didn’t like the alternative. He would rather die escaping than become a genetic crop to be harvested by Michaels and his men.

  He glanced around the compartment. There were two armed guards at the back, a driver and Edwards at the front, and Jane and Lauren next to him. It would be hard overcome their advantages but he would try. He wished there was a way to warn Jane or Lauren, to prepare them for what was going to happen. Neither of them was looking at him, though, and it would have been too risky to get their attention. They would just have to find out when it happened.

  Silently he watched for the moment; his muscles were coiled, prepared to strike. It didn’t take long. The guards had seemed distracted from the very beginning of the journey, and the closer they got to their destination the greater their preoccupation became. Finally, as they were coming into view of the cottage, one of the soldiers turned completely to look out the window. Birch saw his opportunity and pounced on the man, wrestling the gun from his grip. Before he could react Birch had swung the butt end of the rifle at the second guard and sent his head smashing hard against the metalwork. The man crumpled to the floor, where he lay groaning. In another step he had advanced on the first guard and sent a thudding punch to his chin that felled him.

  Jane leapt swiftly to her feet, her face contorted with fury and disbelief.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed. “Have you lost your mind? How can you do that after all they’ve done for us?”

  She had advanced on Birch, but he pushed her aside

  “We need to get out,” Birch answered evenly and pointed his gun at the driver. “Open these doors, now!” The man nodded and pushed a button that sent them sliding up.

  The new light streaming into the back of the truck was almost blinding, but in the seconds that it took for his eyes to adjust Birch instinctively knew that something was wrong. It was only as his vision cleared that he understood exactly what it was. It was everything. The whole city had been a lie, or at least a distortion of the truth. As he stepped out of the truck the beautiful view from the windows altered and shifted from the open spaces of nature, to a scene
crowded with gray buildings and people. There were some elements that were the same; some of the buildings and other features were in the same place, but the beauty had drained away. After the illusion it was a shock. It was like looking at one of those pictures of a famous beauty without their makeup. It just didn’t look right.

  This was an alarming shift in reality. Jane and Lauren stood stunned. With no preconception of this they were confused. Birch had expected something, but Lauren and Jane were lost and bewildered in a land they could not comprehend.

  As he stepped from the truck he was surprised by the number of people milling around and the strange buildings everywhere. They were in the middle of something. This was a busy place with families, and laughter, and music, and the smell of popcorn lingering in the air like a childhood memory. It was a place to be happy, but Birch was not happy. The ground was hard beneath his feet; the concrete was back. The grass had died and had been replaced by miles and miles of cold, gray cement that stretching out about them in broad walkways. People tramped along them from one building to another.

  The buildings surrounding them were odd. They were constructed more of light and imagination than anything else. They reminded him of the protective domes they had used out in the mountains. These ones were transparent though, and from where he stood he could make out the forms of animals moving about under the observant eyes of the people gathering to watch. The animals were oblivious to it all. As they moved the scene around them changed. It was as though they were walking, but they were going nowhere.

  It was the dome before them that terrified Birch most. There were no animals in it. It was an exact image of their home over the last few days, an idyllic cottage under glass for all to see. Nothing was hidden. Even interior shots could be seen on large viewing screens near the enclosure. It made Birch sick. He had suspected something was wrong, but even in his mind it hadn’t been like this.