by A I Zlato
Her chip notified her of an incoming interview request, to which the Machine attached a warning message. Future order or disorder in the city would hinge on the answers she would provide to the reporter. The Machine asked her if she consented to the interview, and she did.
“Hello, Special Agent Baley! I am contacting you regarding this morning’s events, including a charge of religious discrimination by a father who claimed two of his children were kidnapped. You are live on the city’s news channel. Are you the instigator of the operation launched this morning? We are reminding you, in case you’re just joining us, that several children were removed from their school this morning, for reasons of ‘city safety’, and were taken to a building in the southern part of the city.”
This was a critical moment. Baley replied.
“Hello, everyone! I am indeed the instigator of this operation. The Machine gave me a mandate to solve the Problem. As a human being, as a mother, I cannot stand the idea that a child, who should have his or her whole life ahead of him or her, decides to leave this world, and this is why I am putting all my energy into this investigation. I had several discussions with parents, and saw their grief. I felt anxiety in the city, including fear among those parents with children in the at-risk age group, who would watch them go to school, wondering if it is the last time they will see their offspring.”
“Everyone, just like you, is aware of the Problem. My question was about...”
“Your question is about a father whose anger I understand. It is important, though, for all residents of the city to understand what triggered this morning’s operation — so I will start over... To prevent the Problem from reoccurring, it was crucial to find out what connected these children together, what motivated them
to gather. The Machine had performed calculations using a probabilistic approach. I sought to validate the hypothesis by interviewing a number of people, including John and Elizabeth Sofar. The Machine then established a list of children matching the criteria I had validated earlier in the investigation. I finally launched today’s operation to get the children out of their everyday settings. They will follow their regular curricula, taught by qualified teachers, who will also have the task of getting them to talk so as to defuse their potential willingness of... about the Problem.”
“So you confirm there was a criterion of religious belief.”
“Are you saying we should not do anything?”
“It’s not that, but...”
“It is indeed that. My goal is to remove from these children the desire to die! Certainly, the solution is difficult to deal with, and I understand that parents take it with shock and sadness, but I think it is better to endure a temporary separation and keep the children alive, don’t you think?”
“Yes, but you still did not answer my question.”
“And I won’t. Selection criteria should remain secret for the moment so that no residents start living in permanent psychosis.”
“The psychosis stems from the very fact that people don’t know what is going on, Special Agent! I want to know, and so do the residents of the city, if tomorrow you will take our children from us. I want to know the selection criteria, to make sure my children are not at risk!”
“I assure you that I understand, but the investigation requirements call for secrecy on this; the success of the plan depends on it.”
“Because, for you, it is just that — a plan?”
“You are misunderstanding me. As I said earlier, as a mother, as a member of the city community, I am also anxious, worried... But my job as a special agent requires me to make decisions for the well-being of all. Along with the Machine, I have formulated an action plan. This morning’s operation was a difficult decision, but I think about the children, and I think about the families who will not have to experience the drama others have endured.”
“You can still tell us if there was a selection criterion based on religious beliefs!”
“No, I cannot.”
“But you do not deny it...”
“I would have to end the interview. I have an investigation to complete; I have children to save. I can assure you that you will have answers to all your questions as soon as I am satisfied that the Problem is over.”
Baley felt that the interview went quite well overall. She stay tuned to the news channel to hear the response to her remarks.
“Special Agent Baley did not confirm the allegation of religious discrimination. We all do, however, understood that the removal of children was an emergency measure, which a situation like the current one entailed. We need to wait and see how soon things will go back to normal. We will keep you informed of developments in this story. And now let’s hear the reactions...”
The deluge of incoming messages overwhelmed the news channel, and the reporter could only relay the earliest comments. Some spoke of conspiracy theory — a segregation based on faith. The majority of people, however, supported the operation and the Machine, and hoped the tragedy would end soon.
She had been unable to rule out the notion of discrimination, but the conclusion of the journalist was positive about her action, and messages from city residents were altogether encouraging for now.
Baley unplugged the cable and put in on the armrest before getting up. She still had much to do.
Wanting to leave and wanting to arrive are two different things. Leaving without arriving, an eternal escape toward another place that does not exist. Arriving without leaving, a permanent rediscovery of home. Leaving and arriving, that is travelling.
Recollections from Chaacetime
CHAPTER 33
SPACE H. (OUTSIDE CIRCLE)
Egeon was facing an irresolvable problem. He did not have the slightest idea about who or what Mossa was. Days passed, and he and Galatea were managing to establish communication with him. The teenager had showed up suddenly and without explanation in the tunnel. In addition to his odd attire and unknown language, he sported over the entire surface of his hands, and on much of his forearms several microprocessors in the form of black balls connected to each other and planted through filaments into the flesh. His appearance and location of appearance had been enough to stir frenzy in the community. Many were indeed convinced that Mossa was the long-awaited Messiah; the one who would be the Link and the Break; the one who would guide them to... no one knew what. For Egeon, religion was a kind of gadget, which helped people to improve their lives, and reassured them in their moment of doubt. Although he admitted the existence of these beliefs and their benefits on individuals, he did not understand this collective movement of fervor. He could not accept that those beliefs — which were, and should remain, a matter of privacy — could agitate a crowd that much, rendering it unrecognizable. He did not care that people believed in the Messiah, the Arts, magic or a super-spirit living in the sky. He could never, though, tolerate, those beliefs affecting the community; affecting the Project. Yet this was what was happening.
Egeon sighed and stared at Mossa, who seemed indifferent to his environment, as he frequently was. Although he initially rebutted this thought, Egeon was attracted to the second black skin, both artificial and organic, that covered the hands of the foreigner. He thought he could persuade himself and then persuade others that Mossa came from the city, or from another city that was unknown to them, but in this space. This illusion had quickly been eroded when he studied the individual more closely, without his wife knowing, and observed the myriad of chips worn by Mossa. City residents also wore a chip, but it was mainly a transceiver that allowed them to communicate with the Machine, with the terminals and with fellow chip-enabled residents. Compared with the technology worn by Mossa, the city’s chips, even those of the First Circle, meant nothing. Microprocessors that he bore seemed animated on their own, and the circuits underlying them remained a total mystery. Where did Mossa come from? Where did this extraordinary technology come from? Looking at him furtively, Egeon stared at the translucent surface of microprocessors. An elec
tric current seemed to go at regular intervals from the end of his fingers to the last ball resting on his forearm. Egeon had no idea of functions that could fill this artificial entity working for the young boy, and he was not close to knowing. Communication with the teenager was impossible, and all attempts had failed. All matters of daily life were problematic.
For example, he had seemed suspicious of the food presented to him, and had refused to touch it. Galatea and he had to eat it before Mossa in order to overcome his anxieties, especially as hunger became unbearable for him. Now he would eat with a hearty appetite, but remained cautious toward any new food, even if the same dish seemed somewhat different from what he had seen before. Thus Galatea, when she brought meals, would put his plate in the same place, pouring in the same food quantity. Even so, the teen refused to eat sometimes for no obvious reason, and that made his wife sick. All was so... They had had to convince him to sleep. Although he was exhausted, he would struggle for hours to stay awake. When he finally agreed to sleep, Galatea would have wielded all her gentleness and patience to convince him to sleep in a bed, not in the cave. The first night, she got up to see if Mossa was well — and then woke Egeon, saying the child was gone. Terrified, she ran in the dark in the village. It was Egeon who finally found him curled up in a fetal position at the entrance of the cave. He certainly hoped to wake up at home the next day. Poor lad! Egeon brought him back gently to their home. The second night, she had not awakened her husband and had gone directly to the tunnel to find him. It was only after the third night that the boy remained in bed until morning. Egeon saw that Galatea was exhausted, given those small, constant daily struggles to ensure the relative welfare of Mossa. The lack of communication was a real scourge. At first, he had tried to talk to them, and they had done the same. They never managed to understand each other, if only partially. Mossa then took refuge in a silence that made Galatea desperate. But what else could he do? They could not understand each other.
In addition to these small daily hassles that tired them, Mossa was a source of disturbance. He attracted people’s attention, and when he put his face outside, a crowd would form around him. A growing number of people would begin to bow before him in a prayer position, muttering incantations. At first, scared, he was now indifferent to these acts of fervor. His aloofness did not discourage believers. On the contrary, they thought his proud carriage, his unfocused eyes... all this was the symbol of his status as Prophet. Egeon was convinced that if Mossa had run across the lakeshore while yelling, believers would have interpreted his screams as prophecies. Human beings believed what they wanted to believe...
The situation was getting out of hand. The construction of the shuttle was somewhat halted, because only unbelievers continued to work. Unbelievers, as believers called them, were a heterogeneous group of skeptical people, who paid little credit to legends, and especially refused to consider Mossa to be the Messiah. Egeon as well and Alea and Teo were among those.
Teo, a naturally grumpy man, was in a foul mood all day, and Egeon could not blame him. Half his team spent most of his time outside the house of Egeon, hoping to see Mossa. Teo had to work as much, but without a good portion of his workforce. Cables of the ultraF network lay in the corridors of the shuttle with no one trying to assemble them, as Teo had reallocated his low staff numbers to the construction of space-propulsion systems. Instead of having two sites lacking progress, he preferred, in his pragmatism, to gather the remaining workforce in order to carry out a single project effectively. Although he had approved the realism of his friend, Egeon was nonetheless hopeless seeing the ultraF not making progress.
He left home to go to his weekly meeting with Teo, seeing from afar the almost deserted construction site. Around his house, a gathering of people who had nothing to do there... A dull rage pervaded his body, and he clenched his fists, fuming against this waste of talent, the loss of time... all because of a child coming from nowhere. Since his arrival, he started sending people off to their jobs on a daily basis. Most obeyed him softly, and left; however, as soon as he turned his back, they would go back to his house, and wait for the next appearance of the boy. When they saw Egeon, even before he uttered a word, ten people got up, pretending to leave. He shook his head and said nothing, aware of the futility of any word, any logical argument, given this hysteria.
He was pondering things when a kandron landed before him. He stopped in amazement. What else was going on? As if he did not have enough on his plate already! Egeon often saw kandrons in the sky, and had once approached one secretly in the city, but none of them had landed there. They lived among the humans of the city, forming friendships with some of them, according to some. In reality, Egeon thought people who believed they were friends with kandrons were full of illusions. Such animals had absolutely no need for a human friendship. He thought instead that the creatures were drawn to the city itself, as none of them had ever tried to approach humans living on this side of the forest. If they were only interested in humans, they would have come into their community, but they had not. Egeon and his people were content to admire them from a distance or by stealth during a discreet expedition into the city. Kandrons were splendid animals — a slender head with eyes shining with intelligence, a long neck, gigantic wings, powerful hind legs and a large tail resting on the ground, which formed a third support. Their stare, unfathomable, was full of infinite wisdom, even melancholy for some people. The one that had landed in front of him had a nice dark-green color, the depth of which was accentuated by the white light of morning. Egeon had never seen one so close. It was huge. Some kind of aura emanated from the animal; an invisible envelope that isolated the animal in a protective cocoon. This translucent shell slightly blurred its appearance, and gave a strange feeling to Egeon, something he could not describe. He reached out to touch the kandron, but changed his mind. The animal both attracted and repelled him. He did, though, slightly graze the protective wall. There was nothing to speak of, just an abnormal concentration of air molecules, almost solid, which made him shiver despite the heat. He put his arm back along his body and tried to pull himself together, and to break away from the contemplation of the animal. In its own way, the kandron seemed as offbeat as Mossa. Simultaneously there and elsewhere, or... What was a kandron doing there? This was unprecedented.
Mossa, then a kandron... Egeon no longer controlled the situation at all. The 20 people, who were permanently stationed next door, approached him, while remaining at a safe distance. Nobody had ever seen a kandron so close. Its size, its graceful movements and its dark eyes imposed respect. In total silence, a human circle formed around the animal. With little regard for their presence at all, it bounced up to Egeon’s house, pushing the circle. The latter followed it. The kandron knocked on the door with his snout. Galatea opened the door, and amazement flashed across her face. She had not noticed its presence, as it had landed gently on the ground without noise, and all the surrounding people remained in silent amazement. She turned to Egeon, who shrugged, in a display of incomprehension and helplessness. The kandron also seemed uninterested in Galatea, and it gently pushed her to the side. It looked intensely at Mossa, who was paralyzed, stuck to the table. The kandron remained motionless, staring at Mossa, who returned its gaze. The situation seemed blocked, as if time had stopped. The exchange of gaze dragged on. Mossa’s hands, moored at the table, were charged with electricity. Black beads turned iridescent, waving under the pressure of the flow of energy. Galatea approached him and spoke to him in a soft voice to reassure him. Absorbed by the eye contact with the kandron, and certainly by the reaction of his second skin, he seemed impervious to her comments. Egeon had the impression that the preposterous kandron had extended its protective shell around the boy, so he seemed completely elsewhere. Egeon kicked this crazy idea out of his mind, and approached his wife. The house was divided into two universes — on the one hand, Egeon and Galatea, exchanging glances between each other but also with people trooped outside, in front of the house,
and on the other hand, the kandron (with its back legs camped on the doorstep, its neck extended in the doorway) and Mossa in the back of the room. Minutes went by in charged silence, and the boy’s microprocessors regained their normal appearance. The energy flow decreased in intensity, and the second skin resumed its usual balance. The boy then overcame his fear and approached the kandron. He walked cautiously to the door, and the animal moved its head back to give him room. As soon as the boy came out, the kandron grabbed him, threw him on his back... and flew away.
Egeon and Galatea quickly got out, not knowing what to do. Stunned, they watched the kandron rising in the air and disappearing on the horizon. They really did not know what to think. People murmured, worried about their Messiah, and even asked Egeon to do something. Yes, but what? No one could even think about going back to work. They waited, not knowing what exactly they were waiting for. What to do? Was Mossa in danger? What if he did not come back? How could Egeon explain to the community that their prophet had flown away with a kandron? He addressed the crowd, telling them about people of the periphery and their relationship with these animals. He told them some stories about that relationship, emphasizing the kandrons’ harmlessness. He tried somehow to reassure everyone, promising that Mossa would return. Inside his mind, he was aware that he knew absolutely nothing. After a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, the kandron arose again before them, and dropped Mossa down.
“Hello, Galatea! Hello, Egeon!”
“You can speak? I mean, you can speak our language?” Egeon said, surprised.
“Eutrope taught me.”
“Eutrope?”
