Ice Trilogy

by Vladimir Sorokin

  Other iron machines took us to the center of the shelter. Here the Brotherhood had built a large, round hall. When I entered, my heart fluttered: many of ours were already gathered in the hall. They had gotten through in various ways: some, like us, through the underground of the meat machines, some from above. Brothers and sisters kept on entering and entering. My heart shone with anticipation. The brothers and sisters stood side by side in complete silence. We didn’t need to speak in the language of meat machines: our hearts waited for another conversation. I looked at ours. Powerful hearts were gathered here: Uf, Odo, Stam, Efep, and Tse. There were young hearts too, who had been awoken by the Ice hammer recently. Our hearts were preparing. Finally a machine informed us that exactly 2,300 brothers and sisters had gathered in the hall. The rest of the brothers and sisters remained outside the doors. Sister Tse’s strong heart flared: A signal! On the smooth floor of the hall, 2,300 blue circles luminesced. Each of us stood on our spot. We formed a Great Circle. We raised our hands. And joined them.

  I felt the heart.

  We were ready.

  But suddenly one heart fell away. Immediately, the Great Circle wasn’t closed! We let go of each other’s hands. Brother Dlu collapsed on the floor. Something had happened to his body: he had fainted or died. He was carried out quickly. Sister Iuked entered the hall. And stood on the place of brother Dlu. The Great Circle closed. Our hands joined again. Our eyes closed. Our hearts flared.

  We saw Brother Gorn.

  He shone in the center of the Circle.

  I awoke from the touch of brother Obu’s and brother Yasto’s hands and tongues. They stroked me and licked my face. Their hearts were stronger. I opened my eyes. There was movement in the hall: brothers and sisters were leaving. We had to leave the same way. We left the hall, sat down in the iron machine. It carried us and other brothers and sisters to the exit from the underground. Passing brother Tiz, we walked through the yellow door and ended up in a crowd of meat machines. Their clocks showed 7:28. Meat machines hurried to work. The majority of them didn’t want to go. They coagulated with gloomy displeasure. The crowd moved silently from the entrance to the iron machines that took them to their destinations. We moved through this crowd. The meat machines were rushing down, while we were moving upward. They pushed us silently. Passing through the crowd, we came out into the air. There were many meat machines here as well. They were walking toward the underground, which swallowed their bodies. Many of them greedily sucked the smoke of rotting leaves into their body as they walked.

  Skirting the crowd, we walked down a street bearing the name of a meat machine who had tried to see meaning and harmony in the world of the Earth. Gradually we came to the square where we had left our iron machines yesterday. We bought fruit from the meat machines and ate it. We got into our iron machines.

  And drove off in search of Brothers and Sisters of the Light.

  Gorn’s Morning

  Gorn awoke from gentle caresses. Soft hands stroked his body and face. He lay on a wide bed strewn with the petals of blue roses. Over his head a tropical garden of palms, magnolias, and tiger trees spread out. Birds called loudly to one another; large, multicolored butterflies fluttered by. The sun had already risen, and the unsteady shadows trembled on the white body of the boy, sleeping on his back, and on the tanned bodies of two girls lying on either side of him.

  Gorn raised his head. The girls immediately sat up on the bed. These were the thirteen-year-old twins Ak and Skeye, acquired by the Brotherhood twenty-six months ago in the Crimea; they possessed hearts that were powerful, intelligent, and far from childish. During the night they had been brought here to the island, from Ceylon, where they met and calmed the Newly Acquired in the smaller southern house. The girls were wearing identical short pants of goldish blue beads; the nipples of their tanned breasts were hidden by large sapphires cut in the form of octagons. Each girl’s hair was plaited in 23 long braids and covered with gold dust. Precious stones of all possible hues of dark and light blue shone in their braids. Their necks, wrists, and ankles were adorned with gold necklaces inset with diamonds and turquoise. The girls’ dark, supple bodies were fragrant with cocoa butter.

  Gorn turned over and groaned. The girls carefully helped him to sit up. The boy glanced at the colorful world surrounding him and stared at the girls.

  “Good morning, brother,” the twins said simultaneously.

  The boy looked at them, opening his small, dim-witted mouth. He was wearing light underpants, woven from high mountain grasses. On his chest was a wide white bandage. The twins smiled at him, holding him by the shoulders. On Gorn’s lower lip a drop of saliva appeared, detached itself, and stretched heavily down. Skeye wiped his mouth with her fingers.

  “Don’t you want to sleep some more?”

  “Uh-huh,” he said, looking at Skeye.

  Then he moved his gaze to Ak.

  “We are your sisters,” the twins said simultaneously.

  “Nuh-uh.” Gorn looked at them, immobile.

  “We are your sisters,” the twins repeated once more.

  “When?” said Gorn, licking his wet lips.

  “Right now,” Skeye answered.

  “You have lots of brothers and sisters. It’s just that before you didn’t know about it.” Ak took his hand. “My name is Ak.”

  “Mine is Skeye.” Skeye took the boy’s other hand.

  “But you...where?”

  “We are here. With you. Forever.”

  The boy turned his head, looking all around. A large black-and-yellow butterfly glided down and landed on the blue rose petals between the boy’s legs. He stared at the butterfly. The butterfly sat there, fanning its wings.

  “Striped,” the boy muttered and licked his wet lips. “Big? Like that?”

  The twins held him by the hands.

  “Where is everybody?” Gorn asked, without taking his blue eyes off the flapping butterfly wings. “Where’s Mama? And Auntie Vera? Will they come?”

  “We’ll tell you all about it now,” said Ak. “You just have to hug us tighter.”

  “How?” Drooling, the boy stared, mesmerized, at the butterfly’s wings.

  “Like this.” The twins took his arms, dove under them with their golden heads, and pressed against the boy.

  Their arms entwined his white body, their tanned bodies pressed against the boy.

  “Hello, brother Gorn!”

  The twins’ hearts throbbed. And smoothly took Gorn’s heart.

  The boy’s face quivered and his eyebrows flinched. The short blond hair on his head stood up.

  “Catsundogs,” said his lips.

  He farted. Four waves of a slight tremor passed through his body; his fixed eyes filled with moisture. Two birds, calling to each other in the branches of the cherry tree nearby, grew quiet.

  The boy stopped trembling. He froze. Urine bubbled between his legs.

  Pressed to him, the twins seemed to turn to stone. The boy shuddered without blinking or shifting position. And peed on himself again. The urine quietly streamed onto the white silk bed strewn with blue petals. The puddle between his legs grew, flowing across the fabric. The blue petals, floating on it, moved along. The urine reached the butterfly. The petal on which it sat rocked and floated away. And the butterfly flew off.

  Ak, Gorn, and Skeye were locked together for forty-two minutes.

  Finally the twins’ hearts grew quiet.

  The twins shuddered, their lips opened, and greedily, with a moan and a sob, drew in the warm, humid, aromatic air of the tropics. The twins unwound their arms and fell back on the bed, knocking off some of the rose petals. The boy remained sitting, gazing straight ahead. Lying back on the rose petals, the twins greedily and joyfully breathed. The voices of the two birds awoke again in the branches.

  Gorn blinked. And moved his right leg with his fingers. His wet lips quavered, his tongue moved in his mouth.

  “A-m-m-m...a...m-m-m...but give...” Gorn said, and found the twins with his eyes
.

  They breathed, gazing at him rapturously. Tears flowed from their eyes.

  “Give me, give...” Gorn bleated, and his arms stretched out to the twins.

  Ak and Skeye took him by the hands.

  “Give me, give me, give...” Gorn mumbled, grabbing them and drooling.

  The twins rose with some difficulty and embraced Gorn. Now it was they, tired of heart, who leaned on the boy. He wanted their hearts powerfully.

  “Give me, give me, give!” he whimpered, clutching at the shoulders and heads of the swaying twins.

  They cried silently, entwining him in their exhausted arms. Their hearts had grown faint in meeting Gorn’s heart: they had not yet met a heart of equal might. Even Khram’s powerful heart was nothing compared to this still very small heart, which exuded such amazing strength.

  “Give me, give, give!” Gorn roared, and his face was distorted by a tortured grimace.

  The twins began to speak with him again.

  Gorn grew still. His eyes turned glassy. Saliva ran freely from his open mouth.

  Another thirty-eight minutes passed.

  The twins shuddered and with a moan fell back on the bed.

  Gorn stirred. His face was blazing. His arms quivered. From his open, dried-out mouth came intermittent puffs of hot breath.

  “And...give me, and give, and give!” he whined.

  The twins lay, barely breathing.

  “And give me! Give! And give! And give!” Gorn roared.

  Ak barely managed to wrest her gilded head from the bed. Skeye breathed in spurts, like a fish thrown on the shore. She didn’t have the strength to rise.

  “And give me!...Give! Give!”

  The forest surrounding the bed rustled. All the brothers and sisters of the ocean house had been here from the beginning of the support. Hidden behind wide leaves and thick trunks, they followed the first conversation. Now their hearts were worried.

  “They need help. Support them!” Uf said, approaching the bed.

  “They won’t hold out!” Shey yelped.

  “He’s stronger!” Das cried out.

  “They are collapsing!” Bork growled.

  “And give me! Give! Give! And gi-i-i-i-vvvve!!!” Gorn roared as loud as he could and tore at the hair of the unconscious Skeye.

  The foliage of the surrounding forest began to move. Dozens of arms stretched out toward Gorn, who was roaring. But he didn’t notice anything and continued to roar, shaking Skeye’s head, spitting tears and saliva. His awakened heart desired.

  “I’ll hold them up.” Uf stepped forward.

  “No!” Khram screeched, stopping everyone. “He desires them! The first ones! You’ll extinguish it! They must do it! We’ll help them! We’ll be their support! Everyone stand behind them!”

  Dozens of arms lifted Ak and Skeye and pressed them to the boy. Gorn grabbed them greedily and grew still. Khram pressed against Ak’s back, Uf pressed against Skeye’s. Skeye opened her eyes.

  “Speak!” ordered the hearts of those surrounding them.

  And the twins again began to speak with Gorn.

  The brothers and sisters supported them. Uf pressed Skeye to the boy; Khram, who didn’t have the strength to do this with Ak with her weak arms, pressed herself against Ak’s tanned back. Mef and Por supported Khram from behind. Shey, Bork, Niuz, and Pe held Uf. The rest surrounded the bed, stretching their arms in front of them and placing their heads on the bed. Their hearts encompassed and supported.

  Another 23 minutes passed.

  Ak’s and Skeye’s hearts fell silent. The twins were unconscious. The brothers’ arms lifted them and laid them down. Blood flowed from their ears and nostrils.

  Gorn grew still and then shuddered. And everyone felt his heart shine for the first time. It had been filled. And acquired its first peace.

  Gorn moved. And he saw everyone surrounding him. Everyone looked at him silently. He leaned his hands against the bed, rose up on his knees. Then he stood and straightened up. The look in his wide-open eyes had become more attentive and meaningful. His eyes seemed to have shed during the night, becoming more transparent. The blue in them had paled, drawn toward the pupils. His eyes slid over the surrounding world. Now the boy saw it differently: not yet as Gorn, but no longer as Misha Terekhov.

  The world surrounded the boy. This world was new now. And still not fully understood. By itself it didn’t attract him. But something in it was highly desired. Something attracted him and tormented him. It was infused in the world.

  Gorn cast his eyes about. He could vaguely distinguish.

  Between the leaves, sky, branches, butterflies, grasses, and the bed with blue petals were those who had frozen, looking at him. And it was in them. The greatly desired. That which was stronger than the world. Without which it was already impossible to live.

  Gorn walked, swaying, to the edge of the bed. The brothers and sisters stayed still, looking at him and listening closely. Reaching them, Gorn stretched out his hand. And touched a face. It was sister Shey. He touched her face. Shey’s heart froze. Ga, who had sat down near Shey and the bed, also froze. Gorn touched his face with his other hand.

  None of the brothers or sisters made a sound.

  The birds left the tiger tree that spread out over the bed.

  Gorn’s open lips moved: “Bi-ig? Like...tha-at?”

  Everyone stayed still, contemplating the Newly Acquired heart. A powerful heart. The one that they had waited for for so long and so desperately. Gorn’s every movement elicited ecstasy from the brothers and sisters. It was as though they were afraid to scare off the just- awakened heart.

  Gorn touched Shey’s and Ga’s faces. He turned his gaze to Bi, Ut, and Forum, approached and began to touch them.

  “A-a-a-lot? A-a-l-soo? The saaame?”

  Khram was kneeling near Forum. Gorn stretched his hand to her. Their eyes met. But Gorn no longer looked with his eyes. He was already trying to see with his heart. Khram felt this.

  “You, the same? Mi-i-ne?”

  “Yours! With the heart!” Khram spoke, not only with her lips.

  She took Gorn’s hands and placed them on her old, thin breast.

  “Yours! With the heart!”

  Gorn grew still. His heart flared with premonition. It began to know. His hands twined around Khram’s delicate, wrinkled neck. He pressed against her.

  The still bodies of the brothers and sisters moved. They reached out toward Khram and Gorn. Their hearts shone.

  “M-m-mi-mine. With the h-h-h-heart,” said Gorn.

  “With the heart,” whispered Khram.

  “With th-th-the h-heart,” Gorn repeated.

  And he understood.

  His heart froze stiff. The past awoke in him. Now it was separate. And it arose before his awakened heart in all its horror.

  A tremor ran through Gorn’s body. He jerked violently and began to bend backward. His small mouth opened wide and a deep moan emerged.

  Khram understood immediately what it was.

  And they all understood.

  The ring of Gorn’s arms released, his head arched back. And he fell flat onto the waiting palms of the brothers and sisters. Sobs wracked him.

  Khram closed her eyes in a sweet exhaustion.

  The heart crying seized Gorn. He sobbed, his legs flailing in spasms, his fingers scratching his white chest. His head arched back, tears and saliva flew into the faces of everyone helping.

  “Thank the Light!” said Khram, joyfully clasping her bony elbows.

  Dozens of arms lifted the sobbing boy and carried him along the stone path to the house. His weeping resounded in the wild tropical forest. Birds and animals listened cautiously and called to one another in the foliage warmed by the noonday sun.

  Only Khram and Uf remained by the empty bed: Khram sat on the stone square, holding herself by her elbows and placing her head on the silk corner of the bed. Uf sat stock-still near the corner diagonally opposite. They were divided by the bed, strewn with crushed blu
e rose petals and soaked with Gorn’s urine.

  Their hearts were silent in exhaustion. It was the very same intoxicating exhaustion of acquiring. And this time, what an acquisition! Khram and Uf understood what kind.

  “He’s stronger than I expected,” said Khram, running her cheek over the cool silk.

  “Much stronger,” Uf replied.

  “He will be the strongest.”

  “He already is the strongest.”

  A gust of ocean wind rocked the tops of the trees and wafted through Khram’s long white hair.

  The blue petals fell from the bed to the stone.

  “We held on,” said Uf.

  “The Light helped,” Khram whispered in a barely audible voice into the smooth corner of the bed.

  From the tree a large blue-bronze beetle fell on the bed. He made a sort of lazy effort to turn over. His shiny black feet crumpled the roses.

  “Now everything will fall on you,” Uf said.

  “I’m ready. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” said Khram, and lifted her head.

  “He’ll lean on you for support. Only on you. I won’t be with you.”

  “I’ll manage. And I’ll hold on.”

  “We’ll help with a Great Circle.”

  “First we need a Middle one. And more than one.”

  “They’re already getting together.”

  “I have to have support.”

  “It’s already there. We are supporting you.”