Perfect Flaw

by Robin Blankenship

  The next day, Wain went out and scouted the area around the landing. On the main trail, there was evidence of a search party, as many of the branches of the thicker bushes had been broken or disturbed. He took great care going back into the thicket, not wanting to do any more damage than had already been done. He wandered around until he found food and water, and retrieved a member of the party to help him bring rations back to the crash site.

  By lunch time, they had done little more than find water and consume it, but it was something, at least. The group was dejected. All of their hard work had ended in Anarchy. How had Avrom managed to get out of the cell? Why did he have to appear at that very moment? Another day or two and the plans would already have been underway for Great Change, committees formed to figure out different aspects of the list. But now – objections were raised before the reading of the list was finished by a high ranking official. Now that they were out of the Government and they were on the run, they had no power over anybody to do their bidding.

  Mynerva said it best when she shouted “FUCK!” and kicked at the side of the ship.

  Everybody turned and looked at her.

  “You know what? Screw it. We tried to help everybody, but now we have to help ourselves. It’s just the way that it needs to be. Today, we rest. Some of us need a chance to recuperate. Tomorrow, we head the other way on Landing’s Path and see what we come across. Just because Axl came one way doesn’t mean that there was nothing in the other direction.”

  There was agreement in the group, although some of the members started to say something. “Mynerva –“

  “You’re free to go back. Surrender if you need to, but don’t say anything else about those who wish to stay. Remember, you’re the dredges of society, so surely you can’t be held accountable for your actions, although who knows. Nobody’s ever been held against their will anywhere but The Manor before, and we took Avrom and kept him. The choice is up to you.”

  There was very little said after that. A few of the members of the group sat off to the side, deciding whether an unknown fate was better or worse than going back. If Topan had done this, they would have been set adrift – put on a boat and pushed out to sea. What of their families? They knew the risk was great, but nobody considered that their families might be targets. It was okay for Mynerva, everybody had known her as Garricke before, so they wouldn’t have a clue who she was. But the rest of them… Some of them hadn’t been gone that long.

  “If you want to leave, I will promise you safety at the Manor. Follow along the woods until you see the beach on the island and wait until night to cross there. Bryor will give you safe lodging as long as you shall need it.” Mynerva stood up and left the wreckage.

  Outside the crash site, she busied herself by walking up the hill a little more. Clearly, Axl and Abelia had left the crash site and walked down hill – the history never talked much about how they arrived at the site, just that they did. But upward, the hill stretched for an entire kilometer. It would have been easier to start off downward, especially if the natural trail that was there now existed in their day.

  She made her way through the foliage as carefully as she could, careful not to disturb anything too much. On the off chance that an expedition came through this way, she wanted no evidence that they were ever there. It was the safest option for sure.

  As the hill crested, she faced a plateau, wide enough for two or three of her little huts and ten times as long. She walked along this and looked out. Below her, another open plain, a lot like that which was currently Topan, but many times larger. Beyond that, the water stretched as far the eye could see. Her plan *could* have worked after all. Here was the proof – equally habitable land for those who wanted to leave Topan. She wanted to search for a way down the mountain, but she knew that the deepening of the red sky above her meant that night would fall soon. She needed to get back to the wreckage site as soon as she could.

  Mynerva worked back down the trail and neared the crash site. She was suddenly aware of an unnatural glow, so she stopped walking and ducked low. From where she was, the crash was unnoticeable, but the danger to her friends was unmistakable. A group from Topan, led by Avrom, had come back into the woods, torches blazing.

  The dozen or so people that were with Avrom had branched out and were combing the nearby brush. Mynerva held her breath and watched as they came closer to her. Fortunately, directly in front of her was a large thicket of briars and the man searching decided not to check there.

  “Nobody else has been up here for years.”

  Avrom stared at him. “And what makes you qualified to make this judgment?”

  “None of the bushes are broken or disturbed, there are no footprints, unlike where we’ve been walking –“

  “You morons have trampled everything. There could have been evidence, but now we won’t know.”

  Mynerva shuddered, but breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she watched them turn and head down the hill. She stayed where she was until dark had settled. She was finally about to move again when she heard a twig snap.

  “Mynerva!” the voice whispered. “Where are you?”

  “Emmerus?”

  “Mynerva? You okay?” He sounded hysterical.

  “I’m coming! Get low and stay where you are!” She crawled back through the brush until she ran into him, sitting directly in her path.

  “Thank God you’re okay!” He pulled his wife towards him and gave her a big kiss.

  “I heard Avrom up here, so I wanted to lay low.”

  “I guess so. You lay half the day, I think.”

  “I didn’t know what else to do. What is he going to do to the people they caught? Set them adrift, martyrs for our cause? You know I didn’t want that!” She started rambling, all her fears for the day coming out all at once.

  “MYNERVA!” His cry stunned her into silence. “Please, get a grip, dear. Nobody is going to be a martyr for our cause. Everyone here has chosen to stay with you. Anyone caught, well, they made that choice on their own. You’re offering a good way of life, and the people who have followed us are hungry for it. We’ve regrouped and we’re strong enough to continue. In the morning, we’ll figure out a new plan.

  When they got back to the wreckage, everyone stared at her. “I just want everybody to know that I didn’t run away. I decided that you needed space to talk over your decisions, so I went walking. I found something incredible. It’s quite a hike and there’s no trail, but there is a new place to settle. A second city where we’ll be on our own and safe.”

  She scanned the crowd, but nobody took advantage of the moment to speak, so she continued. “Tomorrow morning we eat and refill the water and food and then set off. It’s about a kilometer up the mountain and then we arrive at a plateau. Down from the plateau is an area of land much like Topan but twice as large at least. There’s green space, trees, water, just like there is in Topan. We will have more than enough room to start a settlement of our own and grow it. “

  Emmerus looked at the group and then back at his wife. “Then we wait till morning and go.”

  ***

  Year New 643

  “That’s it? What about the third city?” one of the little boys in the audience turned his big brown eyes towards Mynerva. Of course they knew about the third city; now that travel was unrestricted, people visited all the time.

  “The third city. A very good friend of mine, Travys, was sent out to scout. He went around the island the other way and found an entire second city with a population even larger than Topan.”

  “But where did they come from? And how come nobody knew?”

  “Under the old rules, Topan was blocked off by the fence, remember. Nobody was allowed to cross it. Turned out that the ‘fate worse than death’ was actually a blessing. You see, people who were given that punishment were tied into a boat, pushed into the water and held there with a tether.
When it broke, the boat drifted away and was never seen again. But past The Manor and around to where we couldn’t see anymore, there was another similar area. And the boats made their way there. As more and more people survived, a city started, people re-settled. Another glorious place like this.”

  “But why did they leave,” another child asked.

  “Some wanted to. As the government of Topan got worse, more and more people were sent off. Boat building became a full time job. So the third city – called simply Fate – grew up and became heavily populated. Too heavily, if you must know. So some people asked to come here. They liked what we had done, they were related to some of ours, whatever. There were many reasons.”

  A chorus of oohs drifted up from the group, and in the distance a bell rang, noting the passage of time for the city. “I think that’s enough history for one day,” Mynerva said. Although she hadn’t told the kids most of the story, talking about any of it always brought all of the memories bubbling up to the surface. How and why she got to The Manor, who she really was, all things she kept secret. Luckily, the kids agreed, grabbing their things and running off towards home.

  Mynerva stood and stretched her limbs, taking extra care with her stiff shoulder. They hadn’t managed it the way they wanted to, but they’d managed nonetheless.

  SEVENTH DEGREE

  BY HERIKA R. RAYMER

  Riley Mason was anxiously waiting in the Serp Oak Café, her food was barely touched and she turned her drink periodically as she stared blindly out the window. Around her, the general noise of chatter, clink of utensils to platters, and occasional crash of pans being banged together in the kitchen made up the mundane atmosphere of the place. Outside, solar and hydrogen cars sped by meandering pedestrians who window shopped the stores as they leisurely made their way to their next destination along meticulously kept sidewalks routinely decorated with a gated tree. Watching them did nothing to ease her tension, so to distract herself she allowed her gaze to roam the café. It did not help.

  To the rear, and not entirely hidden, a carefree couple was engrossed with one another. So long as they did not start copulating in public, they would be ignored. Still, watching them kiss and fondle one another made the pit in her stomach even tighter. It reminded her of why she was here. Turning away did not help either, because at that moment she saw a transport bus carrying its usual load of toddler passengers from their school to a predetermined field trip stop. She knew where they were going; she should since she was one of the teachers as she recognized the school colors on the bus. She should be with them now, except for the fact she had taken off this week in the hopes of fulfilling a dream.

  The dream of being a mother, except now that dream was shattered.

  The babble of the group of girls at the next table became distracting. After all, it was not that long ago she had been a secondary education student. She remembered being fresh and having conversations similar to the one going on right now.

  “Wait, wait, wait, listen to this,” one of them was saying and began to read in an affected deep tone. “ ‘Due to the irrational treatment of people of different skin colors, sexual orientation or practice, and even gender in the centuries before The Decay, it was not uncommon for jobs to be left unfilled or even for those employed to be overlooked for promotion’.” She made an exasperated sound. “Can you believe how idiotic that was?”

  “Or how frustrating it must have been to live then?” another asked. “To not know if you’d be able to keep a job, or even live in a your own house?”

  A third giggled suggestively. “I’ve even read books where it said they had separate districts where sex was sold!”

  “No way!” the second one gasped and then giggled.

  “Oh yeah,” the third confirmed. “Can you imagine? Living in such a repressed world that you couldn’t even be with whomever you want?”

  “From what I understand it was a pretty bad time,” the fourth one finally spoke softly.

  “What do you mean?” the second one asked.

  She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “They tried to regulate sex, or confine it to relationships, because people were copulating with their own siblings or children and propagating.”

  “Gross!” the third one exclaimed.

  “I am so glad that is not a problem now,” the second one said. “I mean, I cannot even imagine wanting to breed. I would hate to get that fat!”

  At that point, she turned her attention away from the girls. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she tried to hold back tears. ‘Not everyone feels that way’, she thought.

  She still could not figure out how she had been disqualified, it seemed as though her application had been met with favor. With each interview of the process passed, she had gotten closer and closer to her dream. There had been seven of them, and mostly easy in the beginning with just the filling out of paperwork. She was university-level educated, had her own place and was financially solid, she did not participate in any political arenas and abided by the Dictates, and there was no evidence of civil disobedience on her part or of anyone she associated with. All her preliminary testing had been favorable, even her request to keep the child rather than have it raised by the CP, or Civil Prepotence, had been granted due to her background in the public instruction of young minds. She was well versed in the what-to-do’s and the why-for’s, and had even been complimented on her devotion to the proper tutelage of a developing mind. Yet when she got past the fifth interview, the one pertaining to her knowledge about her own medical history, things had gotten strange.

  If only they had told her why, maybe she would not have taken such desperate measures…

  The sounding of the bell interrupted her musing. She looked towards the door to see a couple enter, the woman was wearing a particularly unusual rose in her hair. It had a yellow bloom with lovely orange stripes.

  These must be the ones she was waiting for.

  She raised her hand in greeting, forcing a smile even though her face muscles hurt at the attempt. Everything had to seem normal, that was what the instructions had said. She had to behave as though she were expecting these people.

  The woman raised an answering hand and said something to her companion, who turned and walked towards the music selection area. There was already a tune playing, despite the cacophony of conversation, but he stood there while she approached Riley’s table. Before she could stand to greet her formally, the woman smoothly sat into the seat as if they were old friends.

  “It was so wonderful to hear you still lived here!” she began breathlessly, as if the two of them had not seen each other in a long time. “I’m so sorry we can’t stay long, but you know him,” she went on with a dismissive gesture to her escort. “He’s always on the move, getting product sold and moved. Still, it gives us a chance to see the Demenses.”

  Initially overwhelmed at her friendly tone, and then finally realizing she was establishing a rapport for anyone who might be watching via The Eye, Riley allowed her smile to widen into a grin. “How many have you seen?”

  “Oh let’s see,” she purred as she tapped a finger to her lips, her eyes giving warning for a moment. “There was Achter Cull, nice city with a wonderful virtual reality screening.”

  “Pardon?” what was this woman doing? They were here for a reason!

  “Oh,” she made another dismissive gesture, though her eyes seemed troubled. “The CP there uses virtual reality to screen their citizen applicants. Nice place to visit, but I would not want to live there.”

  “Uh…”

  “But Beulah!” she went on with a delighted clap of her hands. “The view of the ocean there is just divine!”

  “Don’t forget Lyster,” the young man added as he sat down. He tapped the table three times with his thumb.

  The woman watched his hand and nodded. “Yes Lyster, just follow the river from Beulah and you get to quaint
Lyster.”

  “Excuse me…” Riley began, wanting to get control of the conversation and steer it to what she contacted them for.

  “Miss?” the stranger called to the servi, ignoring her.

  A young woman dressed in the café’s uniform sauntered over and smiled at him invitingly. “Anything I can get you?”

  He grinned and gave her a complimentary eye roving. “For now, could I have two drinks?”

  “Anything specific?”

  “Tea will suffice.”

  She gave him a wink and sauntered away, looking over her should just once to be sure he was enjoying the show. He was, as were several other customers. Normally this would not bother Riley, but today was crucial. What was going on?

  The music changed, the low beat of it thrumming through the floor like a heartbeat.

  “Now we can talk,” the woman said as the man turned back towards the table, his arm draped over the back of her chair as he began to nuzzle her neck.

  Riley eyed him curiously.

  “He is keeping an eye and ear on the café while partially obstructing The Eye’s view of us,” the woman explained. “We have as long as this song.”

  “For what?” she asked, trying desperately to keep up.

  Her visitor was patient. “To get you what you need.”

  Her heart leaped and she was sure her face blushed. Hope surged through her again as she realized she had not been wrong, these were the people she was waiting for and they had known all along what she was there for. “You can do that?”

  “Partially,” she reached over to take the other’s hand in seeming comfort when she saw the downcast expression. “This will get you started.”

  When she felt the small card-shaped package box being slipped to her, she almost broke down into tears. “What is it?” she asked softly, barely controlling her emotions.