by A I Zlato
While getting closer to the tunnel, the voices became more distinct. Egeon could distinguish their words, and what he heard shocked him. A dozen people, gathered at the entrance of the cave, were shouting that the Messiah had arrived. After hearing the news, which was nonetheless unsettling information, a steady stream of people headed toward the cave. Egeon tried to get closer, but the crowd was growing, hampering his advance.
Exasperated, unable to make his way in order to identify the source of the collective nervousness, he raised his voice.
“Silence! Everyone, silence! Can someone tell me what is going on here?”
“It is the Messiah, Egeon. He came through the tunnel, and he came for us!” Such was the reply from a voice in the crowd.
“Don’t talk nonsense. This construction site is the product of our work; this is not the original tunnel by which our ancestors landed here, and you all know this. This is just a reconstruction, a place of worship.”
“See for yourself, Egeon. He is here,” another person uttered.
His anger mounting by the second, Egeon pushed away anyone on his path, in order to reach the tunnel’s entrance. He found a teenager, on the floor, quite frightened.
“Stand back, everyone! Back! Don’t you see this is a boy scared to death? He is certainly a youngster from the city who got lost. Stand back! Give him some breathing space... and stop screaming, otherwise we won’t manage to calm him down.”
Egeon pondered all that this event would trigger. The discovery of the shuttle by the city, the Machine... a cold shiver went through his spine. After regaining his composure, he stepped forward with a sure look.
“This is the Messiah, Egeon; he came to us, we have to see him,” someone else said.
“I only see a scared child. If you don’t want him to run away, step back!”
“The Messiah will not leave us, he is...” a man in front of Egeon said.
“Do you really want to get me mad?”
The crow took steps back, and relative silence settled in. Egeon kneeled beside the youngster. The boy was wearing strange clothing, which he had never seen before, but he was not familiar with fashion trends in the city. Red and black, the linen seemed made in one piece, and sharply reflected the slightest light. On his legs were some patterns resembling inscriptions in an unknown language, starting at his ankles and going all the way to his waist. From what he could see, Egeon noted that the boy was dark with tanned skin. Curled up like a ball, as he was, it was impossible to see his face or guess his height. Galatea joined her husband, while Alea and Teo remained somewhat away, staring simultaneously at the youngster and the crowd that thronged back to the tunnel’s entrance.
It took a few minutes for the teenager, encouraged by Galatea’s gentle and kind words, to look up. His face, distorted by apprehension, nonetheless showed youthful beauty. Large, dark-green eyes looked out from his face, and seemed to panic from left to right without focusing.
Egeon was surprised. Looking up, the stranger had disclosed his hands, or rather his fists, which he clenched with force. His limbs were replete with... electronic chips, like small warts covering all of his fingers, his palms and a large part of his forearms. What was th...? He glanced at Galatea, and noticed that she also could not stop looking at those small black and translucent balls, through which one could see the circuit board inside. They followed the meanderings of those tentacles waving under the force of a current, most likely an electric power.
Looking at that, Alea and Teo positioned themselves to shield the scene away from the crowd. Such an oddity would do nothing but heighten the hysteria that had already taken hold. Noticing their movements, Egeon nodded thankfully, and then focused again on the boy. The latter, reassured by Galatea, opened his mouth.
“Mamawhereisit whereabouttt?”
Egeon had no idea what these words meant. He turned to Galatea, who replied with a “No” sign. She also did not understand, but it was a good start. The child wanted to communicate. To reassure him, encourage him to talk and understand where he came from, it was necessary to have calm and serenity. This, however, was not the case, despite Alea’s and Teo’s efforts. A compact gathering erupted at the entrance into the cave. Curious people, some worrying, others whispering prayers, turned their heads toward the youngster. Egeon, squatting beside Galatea, felt somewhat oppressed.
He considered that if he felt uncomfortable, so did the boy. Besides a wall of people staring at them, there was the hubbub inherent in this kind of event, amplified by the rock cavity. This mix of things would have scared anyone. Egeon stood up and left the cave, forcing the people closest to take a few steps back. Inn a tone that brooked no protest, he asked people to disperse. He promised to call a general meeting to notify everyone about what he would have managed to learn about the boy.
Meanwhile, in order to give the youngster confidence, Egeon asked everyone to go back to work. The tone of his voice should have been enough to prompt obedience. It did not. People stepped back several feet, but did not leave the scene; they sat down, waiting. He walked toward them in a threatening manner, and managed to push them back several feet. Seeing the feverish gleam in their eyes, and hearing people recite the prophetic parable or murmur prayers, he knew it was useless to insist. The people in front of him were not the community he knew (or thought he knew).
There were no longer cooks, engineers, astronomers, educators, etc. There was only a crowd captured by collective hysteria. Egeon stepped back cautiously, and for the first time in his life, he felt fear. He had already been anxious about the project, and had feared for the lives of spies he had sent into the city... but he had never been afraid of his peers. That day, this gathering of believers at the edge of fanaticism scared him. He eventually let go, feeling a ball in his stomach.
He rushed into the tunnel, joining Galatea, while asking Alea and Teo to keep people away, as far as possible. His wife, indifferent to what had happened, sat with her legs crossed. Leaning forward, with a warm smile on her lips, she tried to communicate with the teenager. She told him her name, then pointed her finger toward Egeon and said his name, and directed her finger toward the stranger but to no avail. She tried again several times. Egeon sat down beside her, and did the same.
He tried to display friendship and happiness, despite the frustration he felt inside, owing to all this waste of time. He remained seated in order to appear less imposing, and put his big hand on his chest while pronouncing his name. Then he extended his arm toward Galatea and finally, toward the boy. A glimmer of understanding emerged from the youngster’s eyes. He squared his chest and bowed his knees to the sides to adopt the same posture Egeon and Galatea had. Under his clothing, his chest movements became more regular; he seemed to get more comfortable. He took a deep breath, and uttered a word.
“Mossa.”
Galatea pointed her hand toward her and pronounced her name, then extended her hand toward the stranger and said, “Mossa?” The boy responded with a smile, which she reciprocated. She tried to take his hand, but he refused. She did not insist, and kept her distance. At least, they now knew his name, and that was a good start.
Mossa turned his head in all directions, apparently in search of someone or something familiar. With his black hands, he touched the rocky surface of the cave, and felt shudders. What could he actually feel through the shield of electronic circuits covering his skin? He stood up, and almost fell on the vault. Egeon stared amazingly at this teenager who was taller than him by at least 6 inches. Mossa bent and quickly looked around inside the cave. He sat back, apparently disappointed and experiencing a new jolt of anxiety. He did not have a clue where he was.
He stared at Galatea, obviously expecting answers she could not provide.
How could one communicate with him? Where did he come from? The whole community was ready to believe that, having emerged from the tunnel, he was the long-awaited Messiah, the one who would be the Link and the Break. Outside, the crowd, in nervous silence, was eagerly w
aiting for them to come out, and Egeon did not know what to tell his people. As soon as they would come out, Mossa would draw all attention onto him, and few would continue to devote the necessary enthusiasm vis-à-vis the project...
Egeon tried to take his hand to observe the electronic extensions more closely. He was almost certain that the people of the city did not have the technology to engineer such a transformation. Although he avoided contact the first time Galatea tried to touch him, he did not resist this time, but acquiesced reluctantly.
Egeon didn’t know the nature of the components, although they were made of usual materials. The circuits had no logic. They looped onto themselves, or on the contrary, led nowhere. Very thin copper wires crossed black beads, forming a broad network. Underneath, he guessed that metal roots burrowed into the skin like a parasite sucking its host’s energy. The surface of the circuits was sensitive to touch, and turned silvery when he touched them. Every touch seemed painful to Mossa, who grimaced. Egeon put the young man’s hand back on his leg, while continuing his scrutiny.
“Stop scrutinizing him like that; he is not a strange beast,” Galatea reproached him.
“Well, uh, no, but still! Have you ever seen anything similar? No expedition in the city had ever let us find such technology!”
“Who told you he is from the city?”
“Where else could he come from?”
“Perhaps...”
“Please... Let’s take care of the most urgent stuff. We need to get him out of here, and take him to a place out of sight. He cannot stay forever in this damp spot, exposed to others.”
“You are right... Do you realize? What if he really is the Messiah?”
“I beg you, Galatea. Not now! Our community is on the verge of hysteria, we have a frightened and lost boy to take care of, and we cannot communicate with him. Let’s remain pragmatic, please.”
He realized he had been abrupt toward his wife, but he had no choice. His role was to maintain order in the community and foster progress on the project. He had to do everything to ensure the teams continued their work on the shuttle construction first and foremost, and Mossa, for him, was another problem he needed to solve.
“So what do we do? Do we lock him in a bunker and lose the key?”
“I am not a monster! I just want to make sure his presence does not cause much disorder. Let’s take him home; nobody would dare come to our house to admire him, or bow before him and pray.”
“Egeon, I respect your work, and you know it. I also want the project to succeed, and I also hope to be among those who leave this planet. But if Mossa is really the Messiah we have been expecting — the one that will be the Link and the Break — he could move the project faster than what we could imagine. He could motivate the teams, guide us with new technology... You must consider this; you have to admit that this could be a possibility.”
“Whether he is the Messiah or not, perhaps he can indeed bring us advanced technology, but he also could become a conduit of discord between those, like you, who consider him the Messiah and those who do not.”
“Others who do not, like you?”
“Yes.”
“The only point you and I agree on is that we should take him home, out of sight. Then we will see. But don’t think you can evade people’s queries forever.”
Egeon came out of the tunnel, and called for a rally. Most people were nearby already, waiting to hear something, so the meeting could begin quickly. Heavy silence pervaded the assembly. He waited for the few people who were still working despite the presence of the so-called Messiah. He stared at Alea and Teo, who still kept their distance from the crowd. They also did not believe in the coming of a Messiah. He was sure that each of these two, in their respective fields, saw in Mossa an infinite source of complications. For Egeon, the problem at the moment was trying to bring some semblance of objectivity in the minds of all. He started under ardent glances from the crowd and some whispering spreading like waves.
“Silence, please. Silence. Earlier, we discovered a young stranger in the tunnel. He is not from our community, and we do not think he came from the city. He speaks a language that is alien to us. Galatea and I will take him to our home, and we will take care of him. If he has travelled a long distance to get here, he is likely to be tired and hungry. When he is back on his feet, and more importantly, less scared, we will try to learn more about him.”
“Is he the Prophet? Is he back here to guide us, as he did for the Founding Couple?”
“Is he from another space?”
“When can we talk to him?”
“And why could he not just come from another city? Nobody knows what lies beyond the Southern Ocean. After all, the Machine is capable of overseeing several human societies...” Alea said.
Egeon raised his eyebrows at that suggestion. If it was not likely, it was no less plausible. He understood that she was trying to help. Unfortunately, her attempt to rationalize things did not have positive feedback. Her words were lost in the maze of questions about the Messiah, which kept coming back to Egeon, like surf on the shore. The crowd wanted to believe the Messiah was there, and rejected any other hypothesis.
“Is he from Space O.?”
“Will he redeem us?”
“Is he here to help us complete the shuttle work, and guide us toward the stars?”
Egeon was seething inside. He had always considered those Prophet tales as legends, just like the Founding Couple; nice stories, nothing more. He knew that some people believed it, but he had never thought he would one day be facing a wave of believers willing to sweep everything on their path. In front of this assembly of people he no longer recognized, he felt fear. He absolutely needed to shower their minds, bring their religious fervor down a notch, if he hoped to regain control of the situation. All of these people, with whom he was discussing earlier in the day, about how to bake shortbread, about the ultraF network and astronomical equations, were now unrecognizable. How could the mere sight of a young man, however mysterious, trigger such madness?
He managed to control his own emotions, especially his anger, before resuming.
“Listen! Listen, everyone! At this moment, we do not favor any hypothesis. I said not any. Go back to your work; the project is waiting for you. I will keep you informed as soon as I know more.”
“The project, the project... we don’t care about it for now! If he is our Prophet, he will guide us, and we will no longer be anxious!”
“But you cannot... You cannot consider giving up on the shuttle work!”
Feeling that no logical argument would have any impact, he tried to use their beliefs against them.
“Need I remind you that the Arts, the Founding Couple, have withstood inclement weather in order to travel to Space H. and complete this shuttle?”
“That is true; the Arts wanted this shuttle. Nevertheless, if he is indeed the Link and the Break, he will show us the way...”
Egeon thus considered imminent the moment when someone would dare express publicly what others had been murmuring for a while, namely that with a Messiah, there would no longer be the need for a project leader. He had to try to regain control of the crowd at all costs.
“Again, for now, we are not sure of anything. For now, he is a boy we found near a cave. He is dressed strangely and does not speak our language. More importantly, he is scared. I suggest you give him a warm and welcoming environment away from the crowd; that is to say, in our house. Talos, I am sure you can cook something nice for our guest.”
Talos straightened up, proud to be entrusted with a noble mission, and nodded enthusiastically. He headed swiftly to the kitchen, leading the way for many followers who wanted to be apprentices in this important task. The ambiance seemed soothed, and the whispers became less hostile.
“You are right, Egeon. He first needs to rest, and then we will see.”
“We still need to know if he is the Messiah,” someone said from the back of the assembly.
“I pr
omise to call a general meeting very soon, as soon as I know more,” Egeon said confidently.
He was about to leave, thinking the crisis had been defused. He took Galatea by the hand, and together, using hand signals, they invited Mossa to follow them. Egeon found out that his analysis was wrong.
“C’mon! You are an unbeliever! Even if he told you he is the Messiah, you would not believe him,” someone uttered.
“Are you questioning my integrity? Yes, I am not a believer, but I think I proved in the past that I could acknowledge my mistakes if proven wrong,” Egeon replied.
Teo wanted to speak, but Alea stopped him, because he was also among the non-believers, with the difference that he openly showed his contempt for the beliefs of others. With a quiet but strong voice, she addressed the crowd.
“Each of you certainly has in mind an example of how Egeon can change his mind when you show him enough evidence. For my part, I was able to make him approve the concept of translator, someone who would be responsible for adapting our curriculum from one generation to the next so that the content remains relevant. He did not believe in this idea, but the simulations that my team and I created finally convinced him. I am sure this will be the same for the boy. Egeon will tell us what he finds, and will accept him as the Prophet if indeed he is.”
Murmurs of assent percolated into the assembly. Egeon silently thanked Alea for her intervention. She succeeded in one quick contribution in doing what he had been trying to accomplish for the past 20 minutes. Despite her youth and the physical appearance of a delicate plant, she knew how to get her points across without violence, simply through serene assurance.
“Well, I ask each of you to go back to work. I will hold a follow-up meeting as soon as possible,” he said, seizing the positive vibrations that Alea’s short speech had left on the crowd.
Miraculously, everyone started going back, and soon the tunnel’s entrance was deserted. Egeon’s fear ebbed, while seeing others walk away and going back to work. Habits gradually outweighed the frenzy, and the project naturally took back the prominent place it occupied. Some people looked back several times, scanning the horizon in order to see Mossa, but, overall, the crowd dispersed as it had gathered.
