The Seeker

by Kingsley L Dennis

  Jacob had been tasked with giving classes to the middle grade children. These were the ones that included Johan, Jana, and their friends. This was no coincidence as it was these children who responded most favourably to Jacob’s previous talk. The younger children did not grasp Jacob’s words; they had not been ready for him. The older children, now late teens, had scoffed at what Jacob had said; he was not speaking for them. Jacob was speaking for those who had ears to listen, mind to comprehend, and heart to understand. And they were now ready to receive.

  One of the main classrooms had been reserved for Jacob and his new class. Jacob walked in meekly and made his way to the front of the room. He looked smarter than he had in a long time. Not only was he clean shaven, but he had changed out of his old clothes, or rags as Meryl had called them. He had accepted the new set of clothes offered to him, now that he was an accepted member of the community. Jacob felt it only right that a teacher should look respectable. After all, it was a position with responsibility, and not to be treated slovenly. All eyes were now upon him, and he knew what they wanted to hear. They wanted Jacob to speak about life outside Spring; life out there in the wider world. What had he seen? What had he experienced? Was it all as bad as people made out, or was there hope?

  Jacob cleared his throat and looked intensely at his eager audience. It was their time now, and Jacob was in service to them. He was obliged to provide whatever nourishment and guidance he could. He knew that soon the rest would be up to them.

  So he told them as best he could about the scattered human settlements that sat as fortress towns across the landscape. People were everywhere, scraping out a living for themselves in any ways they could. The majority of the early barbarity had settled down. The early anarchists had found their own communities, and the low hanging fruit had already been taken, stolen, and fought over. Now survival meant rebuilding; yet in this land where Jacob had wandered, humans were fewer. The old and the young were the first victims after the Great Turning. Those now listening to Jacob had been lucky for they had been born after the chaos. And now, Jacob said, it was a time for renewal. The old ones were tired; they had seen and struggled enough. Now they had passed the baton over to the ones born without seeing the old world, in the hope that they only had eyes to see what was to come. The class of youngsters listened attentively all morning to Jacob’s account. Then it came their time to speak.

  Johan took the silence as his cue to speak first.

  ‘We have listened to all that you have had to say to us, and we have found it fascinating. We are indeed eager to learn more about the world we have been born into and yet know little of. But there is something you now need to know about us, of which we have not shared before. We thought we were like everybody else, but we are not. We feel things differently, and know things we should not know. We sense the things that are going to happen before they happen. We understand things that no schooling can ever give us. We have a language, a communication that is all our own. We do not need to use words, but we do so for the sake of our community. And we know we are not alone.’ Johan paused in his speaking and looked around at his classmates. All their eyes were upon him, and Johan acknowledged each gaze as if in acceptance of their support.

  ‘You are not alone.’ Jacob felt that his words were not enough.

  ‘We know you know something, Seeker. You lived with the burning need within you. You had your pilgrimage, and now we have ours. We are not alone in spirit. There are others who speak with us.’

  Jacob’s face made an involuntary twitch.

  There was another brief pause.

  ‘You have the contact?’ asked Jacob.

  ‘We have that, and more.’ This time it was Jana who spoke. ‘When we say we know that the world is bigger out there, that there is more to life, we are not speaking only of beyond Spring.’

  Jacob tilted his head slightly; another involuntary movement that meant he was deep processing the information.

  ‘So you have learnt from your parents that Nous-City is populated with non-humans?’

  ‘Yes, with humanoids. We know that.’

  It was not what Jana said that was telling for Jacob. It was what she left unspoken in the silence afterwards that was the underlying message.

  ‘And so you know more?’

  ‘We know things through a different form of intelligence; what you may call instinctive intelligence. It is not based on things we acquire through learning, but rather what we intuit through a different sense.’

  ‘Yes, I see that now.’

  ‘You sense the world differently too, don’t you Jacob?’ Jana smiled as if she understood.

  Jacob nodded. ‘Yes, I do.’

  Jana stopped speaking and looked over at Johan. Johan leaned forward on his chair and spoke softly yet firmly.

  ‘And that is why we need each other – us and you. We need to work together for the next phase of our plan.’

  ‘You know what you want to do?’

  ‘We know what we must do,’ corrected Johan. ‘And we need your help. And we need the help of your friends too, those at Nous-City. There are some more changes set to come, and we all need to be prepared. For this, we need to work together.’

  ‘I didn’t come here to give you classes, did I?’

  Everyone in the room laughed.

  NINETY-NINE

  There had always been a simplicity to Sorrel’s life that she cherished. She was not a girl for creating complexity from straight lines. A relatively cheerful life as a young girl had suddenly changed when the world fell to its knees and trembled. Sorrel had been living alone and enjoying life as a professional care worker. Her boyfriend was a doctor and together they shared their hours between service to others and joy to one another. Then the stresses came as people began to react badly to the early waves of insecurity and instability in the world. Sorrel could still remember very clearly the phrase her boyfriend would often use - A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor. The seas soon stopped being smooth, and another sea arose: a sea of fragmented and chaotic psychic energy in the human mind. As the early rumbles shook the social systems; as people lost their jobs, their credit, and their security; as the healthcare system could no longer cope – panic became the first sanctuary for most people.

  Sorrel’s life, like most people, had been built upon a consensus. Everyone agreed to how life should be run, more or less, and everyone stayed within these agreed parameters as long as the system provided people their basic needs. When this agreement broke down, and basic needs no longer were certain, then the reality consensus melted into thin air. It was then that people learnt that nothing is really solid, just as material life is held together by atoms dancing around in their great spaces. What holds things together is the binding energy of agreement. And when that agreement breaks down, the bonds are loosened and the atoms fly off. The solid structures dissolve as salt in water. Everything looks different then. Reality becomes what you make of it, or are able to make of it. Your reality then becomes a choice made out of every tiny decision, every thought and emotion – and a new path is slowly constructed from these fortuitous fragments. So when Sorrel discovered she was pregnant she decided to keep the baby. Jana was born into a world already collapsed, and with an absent father.

  Jacob listened intently as Sorrel told a selected account of her past, and of how Jana came into the world. They were outside taking a walk after lunch. As usual, Jacob had eaten very little and this had been only for appearances. Together they strolled down several of the pathways of Spring. They headed out past the granary and towards where the livestock were kept at one end of the settlement. Sorrel confessed that she enjoyed being near to the animals; sometimes more so than being with the people.

  ‘People can be so hard to get along with! It’s so trying at times. And yet the young people seem to have no problem – it somehow just doesn’t seem to get to them like it does with us older ones.’

  ‘You are not that old, Sorrel.’ Jacob was looking out a
t some of the cattle in the enclosure.

  Sorrel turned her face so that her light blush wouldn’t be seen.

  ‘Still, there are differences between us.’

  Jacob noted the nuances in her voice. He detected that Sorrel was speaking on more than one level.

  ‘Difference is what gives us meaning. If we were all the same, we would lack free will and individuality. It is these differences which help us grow.’ Jacob now thought back to his time in Nous-City. He had respected some of the things they were trying to achieve. He could even appreciate the logic and the conscious thought processes of DOC. He just didn’t agree in how they saw things. And that made him different. It had made him into the anomaly because something inside of him had spoken with a different voice, a unique voice. He had been able, in some unknown manner, to make use of his free choice. And it had been this that DOC recognized as a danger, or so Jacob sensed.

  ‘Does it make us grow together or apart?’ Sorrel turned to look directly at Jacob.

  ‘We grow into what each of us has the potential to become. If we can do anything in this life, then it is to be the full potential we are capable of. This is what we need – but may not always be what we want.’

  Sorrel understood his message.

  They left the animal enclosure and walked a little way further around the perimeter of Spring. In the distance they could see the roof of the schoolhouse.

  ‘Jana tells me something is coming down the line – something big, but she won’t say what.’

  ‘Yes, they have indicated the same thing to me. I think they have developed another mode of knowing. They work from an intuitive intelligence within them; they sense things we as yet know nothing of.’

  ‘And why are they like that?’ Sorrel looked anxious.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Jacob reassuringly, ‘they are not anomalies – they are the future.’

  ‘And us? What about us?’

  ‘We can do what’s best for the future, and serve in this capacity.’

  ‘And what about us?’

  Sorrel asked the question a second time, with an added subtle inflection.

  This time it was Jacob who looked away. He wanted so much to take something precious for himself. After all, hadn’t he deserved it? And yet deep within, where the soft voices wander on their silent seas, he knew the truth.

  ‘When we seek, we find. Sometimes we don’t always like, or appreciate, what we find. But at least we learn that sacrifice can be our greatest gift.’

  Jacob gently placed his hand on Sorrel’s shoulder. ‘We must go now, the others will be waiting.’

  ‘Yes, the others,’ whispered Sorrel under her breath.

  100

  He was waiting for her as soon as she had left the Central Communal Meditation Chamber in the Triangle Zone. Kaine-3 came forward and made a subtle gesture indicating contact request. Ruth-11 acknowledged and sent a signal of agreement. She followed Kaine-3 as they walked down the enclosed bright corridor toward a communal rest area. Ruth-11 noted how Kaine-3 had deliberately chosen a public area for their meeting so as not to raise any suspicion. She was sure she had been successful in guarding her emanations. Only those that represented standard humanoid functioning were released. Ruth-11’s own inner impulses, her growing sense of individuality, and her telepathic communications with Jacob were clothed under a sheath of protective resistance. She had to be extra careful now how she reacted to stimuli. Her state of awareness would be given away by the level of her response. She knew that she had to maintain a pattern of autonomic stimuli-response behaviour expected from her. If she showed any signs of free-will response beyond conscious obedience she would be revealing her anomaly.

  Kaine-3 and Ruth-11 sat down at a table together. Only a few other tables were occupied. The large room was bright and sparsely equipped, designed and built for function rather than form.

  ‘We have heard little from you recently, Ruth-11.’ Kaine-3 smiled and attempted to give casual feeling to their encounter.

  ‘I have continued to work at the botanical gardens. I thought it was a good thing that I have been quiet and diligent in my duties.’

  Kaine-3 nodded. ‘Quite so, quite so. To tell you the truth, we expected the contrary from you.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Ruth-11 deliberately gave a look of surprise, as she knew would be the expected response.

  ‘As you are aware, after your close contact with Jacob-9 some sort of field interference occurred that we thought had slightly corrupted your programming. It is no secret that DOC detected what he referred to as an anomaly in your emanations. This disruption was noted in your field discharge. It has since disappeared. We would have expected some traces, some residue, to have remained. Yet this is not the case.’

  Ruth-11 gave a quaint smile. ‘I am sorry to have disappointed you, Kaine-3.’ It was a calculated response on Ruth-11’s part.

  Kaine-3 sat back and relaxed. ‘You don’t disappoint us, Ruth-11. On the contrary, we are pleased with your full recovery from this temporary disturbance.’

  ‘Then may I ask the reason for your visit?’

  ‘We wanted to make a final visual contact check with you to confirm that you are fully fit and recovered. We wish you to be strong and ready for the new upcoming project.’

  A sudden warning bell seemed to ring in Ruth-11’s head.

  ‘Upcoming project? Am I to be moved from my position at the botanical gardens?’

  Kaine-3 made only the slightest of twitches, yet Ruth-11 picked it up.

  ‘Do not concern yourself now, Ruth-11. All will be revealed in good time. Everything we do is in service of the greater good, and to bring the immanence down upon this Earth. Please, continue with your work in the gardens. We are greatly impressed with your results.’

  Kaine-3 smiled politely and then stood up and walked away.

  Ruth-11 felt an unease deep within her. She didn’t know what it was, and yet it was a foreboding sensation.

  ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

  For the past several days Jacob had been going to the schoolhouse as promised. And yet his time there with the youngsters was not at all what anyone would have expected, especially not Meryl whose idea it had been in the first place. She had assumed that Jacob would be a good teacher for the youth – to teach them of the wider world, and to share his knowledge. And yet the young ones had had different plans. They didn’t want to only listen to Jacob; they wanted to share with him. And they had a lot of information to share. They had been waiting, and hoping, for the Seeker to return; for without him things would have been made a lot more difficult. It was their instinct which told them the Seeker would be coming back. The outward effects in the world are related to causes through lines of connection that remain invisible to all but the very few.

  Jacob listened intently to everything that Johan, Jana, and the rest of the young ones were sharing with him. All of them, in their own ways, had received aspects of the same information. And when Jacob learned of what exactly this information was he sat back and fell silent. He had never suspected such a thing was in waiting for the planet Earth. He had assumed, like everybody else, that the Great Turning was the last of the calamitous events to occur. And that after this shakedown everything else would be left scattered in order to be re-gathered and re-constructed – and renewed. However, it now appeared that the Earth was not ready for such a thing, not just yet…

  ‘And what do you need from me – how can I be of service?’ Jacob finally looked up and engaged the waiting faces of youth that sat before him.

  Jana spoke up first. ‘We cannot do this alone, we are so few. We know there are others out there like us – who know – and many more that don’t. We need to reach as many people, as many settlements as possible. Not only do we need to reach Nous-City – we also need to reach for the assistance of all the other Seekers.’

  ‘You can help us arrange this,’ added Johan. He smiled across at Jacob. ‘I always trusted you, from the first moment we met. Th
ere was something so human about you, and how you treated people. I knew then that you were one of us.’

  Jacob recognized how Johan had chosen his words carefully. He was coding his understanding, letting Jacob know that he knew too; and that not only did it not matter, but that it was a crucial part of everything.

  ‘We are who we are for a reason.’ This time it was the girl Amber who spoke. Her reddish hair hung like a jewel across her youthful face, as if a reflection of her name. All the others in the room nodded in agreement.

  ‘It’s all about the bigger picture,’ added Johan. ‘If we think small, we act small. Then we are nothing but puppets. But if we can see beyond what is in front of us, beyond even the years of our own lives, then we can grasp a picture which gives meaning to our life.’

  ‘Nothing begins and ends with chaos.’ Jacob spoke in a calm voice.

  ‘Everything is a step along the way,’ said Amber in response.

  ‘So then, when do we take our first step on the way to Nous-City?’ Johan smiled broadly. He knew the discussion was over. Now it was a matter of preparation…and timing.

  ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

  Jacob spent the afternoons trying to be useful around Spring. Often he went back to his old role of maintenance handyman, as he had been when working alongside his old friend Bryleigh. He liked to be outside, in the fresh air. It was in complete opposite to how he had experienced life in Nous-City. They seemed like two extremes, like open and closed systems. And then there was Nature, and the Earth, which were beyond anyone’s system.

  Jacob was working on fixing some splintered wood flooring when the voice came again, low and deep inside him as if vibrating from his cells.

  Jacob, this is Ruth – are you there?

  Jacob sub-vocalized his response as he continued working. Anyone nearby would neither hear nor suspect anything.

  Yes, Ruth, I can hear you. How are things in Nous-City?