The Seeker

by Kingsley L Dennis

  ‘We have many problems already, Eli. Tell me something I don’t already know.’

  ‘I’m not talking about now, but the future. Haven’t you realized that we have an ageing population? Almost all of those who come to my hall are old. But look around, how many young people are there in our school here? How many pregnant women are there?’

  Zachary remained silent. It wasn’t something he had recently given much thought to. Yet he knew Eli might be onto something.

  ‘Almost no pregnant women, Zachary. That’s how many. And the children are the few who were born almost as soon as their mothers’ arrived here. Many of them were conceived before arriving here.’

  Zachary let out a low sigh. ‘Women may not want to get pregnant in a place like this, in a world we have now. We can’t blame them for that, Eli.’

  ‘I’m not talking about blame, Zachary. I’m talking about making sure we have a future. What’s gonna happen when all us old ones die out, and only a handful of young ones remain? They’ll be no future!’ Eli wiped the top of his lip, where a thin line of perspiration had formed from the steam of his hot breath.

  ‘And what do you propose then, that we force the women to have babies?’

  ‘More or less, but not to put it so crudely.’

  Zachary’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘So just what do you mean?’

  ‘We need a new law for Spring – a law that will guarantee its survival into the future. We need to propose a law that says each girl at age of sixteen has a duty to give birth. Spring must require all fertile women to have at least one child, preferably more. Even some of the older women, ones in their late thirties, can still give birth and help Spring to re-populate.’

  This time it was Zachary’s turn to wince. ‘But how can we enforce that! It sounds ridiculous. We can’t make people have children. Women have the right, the free will, to decide if they wish to get pregnant or not.’

  ‘Maybe once, Zachary. I used to think the same as you. And I’m truly sorry the world has come to this. But it has, and it’s a different world now. And it’ll be a world without a future if we humans don’t start changing our ways. And that means thinking more about our survival!’

  Zachary shook his head and blew out hard. ‘I know things have changed. I’m the first to admit that. But we’re still human – and we need to stay humane! I can’t enforce pregnancy upon women. I just can’t – nobody here can!’

  Eli let out a low whistle that seemed to skim through the bare branches of the leaf-naked trees.

  ‘There are those here who will, Zachary. Somebody soon is going to have to make that call. I was hoping it would be you.’

  Zachary was left alone as the night fell in to cover up the last places of light. The beacons of Spring lit up one by one. A scattering of flames lay spread out before him. This settlement had been Zachary’s future. It had promised a future for everyone. Perhaps sometimes a future must be fought for in ways that don’t seem kind.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Prentis rubbed his head as he sat back from the burning wood stove. Then he ran his fingers across his face where he knew his birthmark scar was. It was exactly where it had always been. It had marked more than his face in his youth. He too had once felt an outsider, as damaged goods. It was no accident, he thought, that he had never married. For this, and so much more, he felt resentful. And now the world had turned into some chaotic monster, and nothing, he was sure, could get better. Nothing could be awaiting him except a dark and lonely future. And ultimately death, of course. Finally, he would be in the ground; swallowed up amongst the worms where much of humanity deserved to be.

  He arose when he heard a knock at his door. Prentis knew it had to be one of a very few people close to him, as any others would not call on Prentis without permission, or appointment. Before he had opened the door Prentis knew who had come calling. The thin-framed figure stepped inside, nodded, and moved over to the burning stove to warm his chill-riddled body.

  ‘Some pressing news?’ Prentis’s tone was flat, almost as if the question was rhetorical.

  Eli smiled. ‘Information, more than news.’

  ‘That’s what I meant. With you, it’s always information.’

  ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

  ‘Take it however you like,’ replied Prentis as he went to fetch some water from his depository. He put the pot on the stove to boil and sat down. Eli, taking Prentis’s silence as an invitation, took a chair and pulled it over to the stove to join him.

  ‘You don’t seem particularly concerned.’

  Prentis shrugged. ‘Should I?’

  ‘The way things are going, I would be if I were you.’

  ‘But you’re not me. So what is it exactly you want to tell me, Eli?

  Eli’s thin lips tightened together, and almost crept into a slither of a smirk.

  ‘It’s going like you said things would. And it won’t be long now. I’ve just spoken with Zachary, and kinda let him know what ideas are coming. The old way of things will soon be on its way out. People want the new change we have for them, even if they don’t know it yet. We’re set to bring it to them.’

  Prentis took the hot water off the stove and poured its contents into two chipped mugs.

  ‘And you’re ready to step up and take your role?’ Prentis eyed Eli steadily.

  ‘Sure I am, just as we agreed,’ replied Eli, and smiled broadly this time. ‘And you?’

  ‘Me?’ Prentis slowly sipped his hot mug of tea. ‘Oh, I’ll just be right beside you, covering your back. Best place for me to be.’

  Eli snickered like a little child.

  Prentis looked up. ‘And the Seeker?’

  ‘From what I’ve been told he’s already made his own fire to burn in.’

  This time it was Prentis who gave out a low laugh.

  ‘So, we’re good?’ Eli looked over at Prentis and waited.

  ‘Yeah, we’re good,’ said Prentis after a pause.

  ‘Thanks for the tea then.’ Eli stood up, put the mug down, and let himself out.

  Prentis stared into the stove as the wood burned. He watched its flames lick and curl, as if the world had for a brief moment condensed into a tongue of fire. Everything has to pass, thought Prentis. He rubbed his face where the birthmark was, and silently cursed inside.

  TWENTY-NINE

  Rebekah shook her head and sat back in the chair. She couldn’t believe what Zachary had just told her. Without speaking she got up and lit another lamp to bring more light into the salon. Johan was already sleeping and their guest, the Seeker, was still outside somewhere, roaming the avenues of Spring.

  ‘The Seeker will be back soon, the curfew is close.’ Rebekah looked over at her husband who was slowly pacing around the room.

  ‘Mm,’ mumbled Zachary, who was lost in thought.

  ‘Do you know where he goes to every night till late?’

  ‘Who, the Seeker?’

  Rebekah nodded.

  ‘I dunno,’ said Zachary. ‘He likes to wander around, I guess. I don’t take him for a person who likes to stay confined.’

  ‘He’s been with us a little while now. More than we expected. He was at the school today giving a talk to the children. Meryl set it up. Did Johan say anything to you?’

  Zachary shook his head but didn’t answer.

  ‘Johan didn’t say much,’ continued Rebekah, ‘but I could tell he was excited afterwards. You could say he was enthused with something.’

  Zachary stopped pacing. ‘But we’re avoiding the issue. It’s this new law idea that Eli’s got into his head that concerns me. I can’t believe he really wants me to pass it. Its not gonna happen. Not with me around, it won’t. And that’s what bothers me’

  ‘How do you mean?’ A lump came to Rebekah’s throat as soon as she had asked the question.

  ‘I know what people like Eli think. They think I’m too old or too soft for the job. Especially now that they think harder times are coming. This is all part of a test
. Or maybe part of a push. Eli’s been eyeing something more than just his preaching for a while. I can smell it on him, and I don’t like it. Things have been stable here for a while now. But I fear that may no longer be the case.’

  Rebekah walked over to Zachary and put her arms around him. She squeezed him and it felt so good, so warm. And then it made her think that she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen anyone give another person a hug in Spring; at least not in public. Warmth had not been shared within the settlement for a long time, and now winter was coming. People would really begin to feel the chill, inside and out.

  Zachary went over to the stove and bent down to look into its flames.

  ‘We need to put more wood on the fire. We need it to burn all night.’

  ‘But what about Johan?’ asked Rebekah. ‘If what you say is true then it’s even more important that we do this for him.’

  Zachary nodded in agreement. ‘Yes. We may have to let him go.’

  30

  Zuse-1 had just finished visiting the botanical gardens in the Circle Zone to check on progress. Many seeds had been brought to Nous-City by several of the Seekers. These Seekers had been working in agricultural related settings before the Great Turning. They had known to bring seeds with them for safe-keeping. Seeds were now being sown in many ways and in many forms in Nous-City. A seed was no longer only an idea, an inspiration. It was something also grounded in the soil of the Earth. Seeds formed the tree of life for a new civilization, a new evolutionary branch.

  Various seeds had also been collected and stored in anticipation of worldwide collapse. A global consortium had created their bunker seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. It came to be known as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It lay a hundred and twenty metres inside of a sandstone mountain on the island in the remote Artic Svalbard archipelago, just over a thousand kilometres from the North Pole. Robust security systems were in place in the Svalbard Seed Vault for its own protection. Nous-City did not need such protections. No one entered the city if they had not arrived as a pure Seeker. The city knew its own.

  Zuse-1 was now strolling quietly in the water gardens adjacent to the botanical greenhouses. Here the water flowed in a stream, and Zuse-1 privately enjoyed the sensation of being close to running water. As Head Operator of Nous-City he had much responsibility. All these tasks took a toll on his time and attention. Zuse-1, like all the inhabitants of the city, took little private rest. In his time away from his duties he liked to visit this garden, with its stream, where he could relax and allow his mind and body to receive the energy of the immanence. There was a great force wishing to enter into the Earth – a great intelligence – and it needed vessels. Zuse-1 was sure that until that which was above came into that which was below, there could be no future. They were preparing for a new epoch. And whatever they did now upon the Earth would influence the universe. Nothing existed in isolation. If only humanity had truly understood this before. Yet now…

  It would be an epoch where the last of the human settlements dwindled into chaos, confusion, and collapse. The old ways had to die, for the new seeds to take root.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Jacob stretched as he arose from the bed. Another day in Spring loomed before him. He was ready to work another day, and yet he felt the urge so strongly now within him. He had felt it growing ever stronger with each passing day. He was hoping he could spend the harshness of the winter within Spring, and yet now he knew this would not be so. The urge within him was becoming too great. It compelled him on, pushed against his staying, and pulled him onwards toward Nous-City. He knew he was a man of freedom, yet not of free will.

  As Jacob emerged into the main room of the dwelling he saw Rebekah placing his breakfast dish upon the table. They were alone.

  ‘Where is Zachary this morning?’

  ‘He had to leave early,’ Rebekah replied as she put the pot on the stove to boil.

  Jacob sat down and stared at the piece of bread in front of him. He felt strained, out of place. It was becoming hard for him to know what remained in Spring for him to do. He was on a pilgrimage. His only role was to serve others. The more he stayed in the settlement he feared that he would lose this service. And a Seeker without a service to perform was like a body without a soul.

  Rebekah thought she saw the Seeker grimace. ‘Everything alright?’ she asked.

  Jacob’s mouth twitched. ‘Mm, yes. With you, everything is fine. You have been wonderful hosts to me.’

  ‘But with yourself – is something wrong?’

  ‘No, there’s nothing wrong. Not with me. It’s just that sometimes it’s a struggle to stay true to this…this, thing inside me. This call…this, well, I don’t know how to say it. It’s difficult to express this urge; it’s like a contraction in the chest. It feels as if it’s always been there, always a part of me.’

  ‘You must eat. You eat so little, Seeker. I almost never see you eating.’

  ‘I almost never have hunger. It’s not because of your food, Rebekah. I think I was born without appetite - appetite for food that is.’

  Rebekah placed the steaming mug on the table in front of Jacob and sat down on one of the chairs.

  ‘What’s it like being a Seeker?’ she asked.

  For the first time since he had been there Rebekah saw the Seeker give a faint smile. She looked closely at his thin face, aged yet young, and his long brown hair tied behind his head. He always appeared with a short growth of stubble on his cheeks; never totally clean shaven nor ever with a beard. In the creeping light of the morning his eyes shone with a pale bluish-grey. His thin nose made him look serious, or so Rebekah thought. She had become so used to Zachary’s features, which seemed so circular in contrast to the Seeker’s.

  ‘Well,’ began Jacob, ‘what can I say? It’s like nectar and a torrent of fire all at once. Sometimes it feels unbearable, as if the body will be obliterated. The body feels like it’s not ready, not yet able to cope with this flood of fire. Is this what you wanted to hear?’

  ‘I only wanted to hear the truth,’ replied Rebekah softly.

  ‘Yes.’ Jacob tilted his head. ‘And sometimes it feels like the head cannot do this, that the mind is unable. The call that comes from within feels like it comes from the very cells. Maybe it’s a communication between the cells, and the mind just catches a few loose syllables from their private conversation. Yet it’s enough to make the mind think its going crazy. But the body feels something else entirely. And this – it is this – that drives me on. Something is pulling my very body toward its goal.’

  ‘And this is the reason for your pilgrimage?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And your goal – to find the famed city?’

  Jacob nodded. ‘Yes, to find, and gain entry, into Nous-City.’

  ‘Will you gain entry, even if you do find this place?’

  ‘I must find this place,’ said Jacob under a low breath. ‘And I will be granted entry if I am a true Seeker.’

  ‘And…and how will you know if you are a true Seeker or not – who is to know? Who can decide these things?’

  ‘We shall see,’ was all Jacob said.

  Rebekah rose from her chair and greeted her son Johan as he entered the room. Johan then hurried over to Jacob and gave him a hug too.

  ‘Thank you, Seeker.’ He then grinned and rushed over to grab a piece of toasted bread. Rebekah fussed over him whilst Jacob nibbled on his bread in deep silence.

  Jacob hardly noticed as Johan waved at him as he left the dwelling and joined the other children outside to walk to the school hall.

  ‘You see?’

  ‘See what?’ Jacob looked up at Rebekah who was standing across the table from him.

  ‘You give people something. Just by being here you give people hope. You don’t need to do anything, or work in any way. Your presence here is proof that there is more out there…that there is a future. You give hope, Seeker, and that’s important. That’s what we all need.’

&
nbsp; ‘We must all work toward hope…together…’ replied Jacob after a pause. He rose from the table and went to wash himself and to prepare for the day.

  The heat from the burning wood stove engulfed Jacob as he returned to the centre of the dwelling. He was about to make for the front door to leave when a worried look on Rebekah’s face stopped him.

  ‘We need to ask something from you, Seeker. Zachary and I need you to do something for us.’

  Jacob stepped back from the door and listened as Rebekah spoke. A slight strain of anguish, or pain, rippled almost imperceptibly across his face.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Bryleigh was digging a trench along the perimeter wall when Jacob arrived. The ground was still frosty and hard, and steam rose up from Bryleigh’s breath as he heaved.

  ‘Should’ve done this earlier, when the ground was soft,’ said Bryleigh as he saw Jacob coming up. ‘But, y’know how things are. You don’t think of ‘em until they need doing – always hard to look ahead.’

  Jacob nodded in agreement.

  ‘So, Jacob buddy, you reading for some real seeking?’ said Bryleigh with a broad smile.

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Good, then grab a spade and start digging with me. We gotta get a trench dug along this wall before the rains come in strong. There’s always some flooding around here. I think we’re on some kind of slant.’

  Jacob went to fetch a spade from the tool house and returned to where Bryleigh was digging. As he walked back he looked out across the field where the food was grown, and wondered. He wondered how much food there would be this winter, and whether it would be enough. He wondered about all the many different things involved with staying alive. And it made him think about the great fragility of human life. And how life had come so far…and whether it would, or could, make it further.

  ‘Y’know,’ said Bryleigh as soon as Jacob had begun digging beside him, ‘Meryl seemed pleased with your visit the other day. Although I don’t think she could quite figure it out!’ Bryleigh let out a deep laugh.