by A I Zlato
Thus the Prophet’s time shall come.
He will accomplish what no one else has dared imagine before him.
And he will do it unwillingly.
The Legend of Chaacetime
CHAPTER 46
SPACE H. (PERIPHERY)
Paul prepared Edgard’s meal reflexively. His hands started moving automatically without his own mental intervention. While pondering a million things, he dropped the bowl, which broke on the floor, mixing glass and food. Sighing, he cleaned it up and injured himself. Wounded in his self-confidence rather than in the flesh, he swore at his clumsiness. He pulled out a biocompatible compress, which merged with the skin covering the wound. He pulled out another container, trying to focus this time on what he was doing. There were so many things on his mind. For a start, the creature in the midst of the storm... He was convinced that he had seen an interspace... The border between Space H. and... impossible to know. It was also impossible to know what the entity he had seen in the center was.
While continuing the study of the diary, he had discovered a hidden message. It was about a rule of space as heritage, and about guardians who would be its stewards. Those few sentences had plunged him into an endless abyss of questioning. On the edge of his consciousness, he began to realize he had been daydreaming.
Baley then arrived and overwhelmed him with her new theory of an anti-Machine movement. As with her previous assumption, she was not interested in the trigger factor, and she hurtled headlong into what she had to say. She was ready to pull other children from their families, and to adopt, in her own words, “extreme decisions”. The discussion with Vlad on the principle of totalitarian systems made more sense after Baley’s arrival. He could not work with her without feeling as if he condoned her demented attitude. He nonetheless wanted to prevent her plan, but he had no way to act against her; unless, of course, by solving the Problem; finding the solution before her, and preventing her from tyrannizing the city...
He paused for a moment on this idea and knew what he was going to do was the right thing to do. He did not intend to conduct interviews — even worse, to upset parents immersed in grief — or to spend time on the suicide scene. That was Baley’s method, and he saw where it was leading. He would do just the opposite, and use his skills doing what he was gifted at. He would go to the laboratory to study Anderson’s manuscript, because Edgard had told him that it contained elements of a solution. If the kandron had instructed him so vigorously to devote time to studying it, the reason must have been necessarily compelling. The Problem was too.
“Edgard?” Paul waited for the kandron to contact him mentally.
“Edgard!!!”
“I told you there was no need to shout. My answer is not conditioned to the sound level of your call.”
“Edgard, I have decided to stop the investigation with Baley. I thought I had reached the bottom with the Chrijulam sect and the forced removal of those children... but no. She had to invent a new theory, and above all, she wants to use the same methods. Totalitarian! I cannot go in her direction. I want to do it my way and get back to the diary to... to prevent her from harming people.”
“You will get in there the Elders’ dream you have already visualized; the form will be different, that’s all. I know that the way information is presented is paramount for you; however, be careful not to confuse the mirror’s image with reality.”
“You mean that the form should not mask the content? I understand, but if I see the image, that means I see the reality, so I’m on the right track.”
“The very principle of logic is intrinsic.”
“What? I do not understand what you mean or what you’re getting into. I must... I must act now; I do not have time for abstract concepts.”
“This is not abstract. It is your destiny; you have to follow it.”
“How many times have you already told me that?”
“I repeat things when you’re not listening. This is all your fault.”
“Well, OK. It’s my fault. It’s not easy for me to understand things... but how can I follow what I do not know?”
“If you know, you don’t follow it.”
“You also told me that already.”
“Because this issue – you’ve also already asked me...”
“Suppose I... Will you be OK if I stop working with Baley?”
“It seems that is the way you chose to expand your mind.”
“It’s a way of seeing, but OK. So, I stop the investigation. Then I resume the study of the manuscript — the one that is so important to you, for which you landed me in the lab in the middle of the night, saying ‘Read. Learn. Find.’ And I will find in it the keys to solve the Problem.”
“Answer, Edgard. Please do.”
“You did not ask me anything. The courtesy phrase that ended your sentence changes nothing.”
“I’m asking you if it is the manuscript I have to study? Is there a solution in there?”
“It is a means, even if the Machine does not know. It is part of the Problem; even Baley knows that, although she would not admit it. Gateways know. Equilibria are changing... everything is there. The door to possibilities...”
“My dreams are important, I know; perhaps premonitory. But Edgard, for the last time, will the manuscript give me answers to end the child suicides?”
“You’ll find in there the answers to the questions you ask yourself.”
“Perfect... I conclude, therefore, that I have to study it. That’s all I wanted to know”
“No, that’s all you wanted to hear; it’s not the same. Don’t confuse mirror and reality.”
“You’re back at it... And the logic is intrinsic, right?” “Only if you understand what that means.”
“As if I could understand your speech... you should know by now.”
“Time is not the same component for you and me.”
Edgard had told him something striking, but Paul refused to get carried away in a long, absurd discussion. He had a mission.
They set off together toward the laboratory. Paul entered the lobby and greeted the guard, who complained about Edgard with regard to the lawn, edgier than usual.
“You think you are superior to me because you are a researcher and I am a guard?”
“Not at all,” Paul replied, taken aback. “Why do you say that?”
It was amazing the time that small, unimportant details could take. It was every day the same old story, and there was so much to do that was important.
“Because you and your creature do not respect my work!” the guard replied. “Yes, sir. To maintain the lawn, to prune it, to make it green and bushy — these things take a lot of time. And your pet tramples on all those hours of work I spend maintaining the lawn.”
“I understand,” said Edgard. “You can tell him that I understood. I make him lose time, and time cannot recover itself. I will no longer land on the lawn.”
Paul gasped a few moments. The anger of the guard and above all, his unusual way of presenting his grievances had succeeded where dozens of talks had failed. He transmitted Edgard’s response to the guard, who glanced at the kandron incredulously. Paul assured him that the kandron understood, and would act as he had said. The man, still suspicious, immediately announced that he would remove the prohibition sign “Keep off the grass” as he had only placed it to frustrate Edgard, and that if it ever did it again, it would be up to Paul to replace the sign because as a guard, he had thousands of things to do, and...
Paul left the scene, thanking Edgard mentally. To present things differently... it was what the kandron had said about the manuscript. A simple altercation over a trivial matter could be carrying a message... “Edgard, thank you.”
He went to his office, where he found Vlad in full contemplation of his coffee cup.
“Hi, boss! So, how’s the investigation? Are you guys making progress in implementing the dictatorship?” the latter asked in a tone that was half-sarcastic, half-aggressive.
/> “I decided to distance myself from Baley.”
Paul told him of the latest events. He explained how the special agent’s attitude was becoming increasingly extreme, and told of his intention to counter her behavior by being the first to find a solution.
“You are starting to agree with my perspective, then, regarding the methods... OK, but do you think the best way would be to solve the Problem with an old document that is — what? — thousands of years old?”
“Vlad, the manuscript I’m working on refers to, among other things, the Machine’s construction; the Machine’s earliest era. And the Problem... refers to an anti-Machine movement. This cannot be a coincidence. There are other obvious connections with the investigation, but I cannot talk them. Believe me the key to the Problem might be right before our eyes.
Something else: I imagine that there are other documents such as the one about the early stages of the Machine. I should also explore them; I am confident, but
I cannot do everything. Perhaps you find it interesting. You could maybe focus on the beginning, from the Machine’s invention date. The Elders created it in the Earliest Space, which has connection to our department, while also connecting to what you are passionate about... what do you say?”
“This really is nice of you. This is the first time... but OK, you are making efforts; I’ll reciprocate. I accept your proposal; I will explore the beginnings of the Machine. Do you think that that will help; for the Problem, I mean?”
Paul almost told Vlad that Edgard had persuaded him in his dreams that it was the case, but he refrained and answered.
“Directly, I do not know, but it inevitably will one way or another, I am convinced.”
“Then, I’m fully with you!”
“Good. I suggest that I continue working on the translation of my manuscript, then I will give you the sections you need to cover. You also have to find other documents on the same subject in the database.”
“You don’t want me to touch your precious document?” Vlad asked suspiciously.
“It’s not that; the fact is the language is very different from the one you and I use. You have not studied much about ancient languages; it will be difficult for you. Of course, I encourage you to work on it, as you can work directly on the future manuscripts you will have identified.”
“That makes sense. While you translate, I’m going to start. I’ll learn the language, and try other documents. We will kick this apprentice dictator’s ass with scrolls. Let’s do it!”
For the first time since they met, Paul and Vlad ended a discussion serenely, happy with one other. While Vlad studied the Machine, he would focus on the remaining text. Together, they would find trails, and would get ahead of Baley and her dictatorial tendencies, as Vlad had just said.
He went into the archives room and bumped into Alexander, who often went there. They apologized simultaneously while greeting one another, then an embarrassed silence percolated. Paul almost told him about the investigation, as well as the results of their hard work, but thought he had better not say anything. Firstly, Alexander had not asked him, and he perhaps was not interested. Secondly, there was no need for someone else to carry on his shoulders the guilt of having helped Baley to kidnap children, even if Alexander could not singlehandedly have made the connection between Paul’s involvement and the kidnapping. Paul pretended he was working on something important, Alexander did the same, and they went their separate ways after the door of the archives room closed. The shadow of Baley and her actions still hovered over Paul... but not for long.
He retrieved the manuscript and carried it to his reading table. In the office, he saw Vlad, focused as ever on his terminal, displaying the training course to decipher the ancient language. If someone had told him — even the day before — that his assistant would be working diligently on this, Paul would not have believed it. He copied for him the notes concerning the construction of the Machine, as Anderson had described it in his diary, and placed them beside Vlad.
He sat down in front of the manuscript, a handy notepad nearby, and resumed his reading about Thomas Anderson’s life where he had left off the last time. After referring to his discovery of Space H. and the beginnings of the construction of the city, Anderson took his narrative in a new direction, evoking memories of the E.S., as he had done in the first pages. Paul was exultant. Of course, Anderson did not explicitly speak of the Earliest Space, because the latter did not bear that name. Yet that was exactly what it was... Paul held his breath, and continued reading, his tight pencil in his hand, feverishly noting his translation as he progressed. He did not know what connection this could have with the investigation, but it was his subject of study, the one to which he had devoted his whole life. In addition, Edgard had told him he would find the answers in this document. There was, therefore, no reason to feel guilty.
Anderson chronicled how humans were living in the underground to protect themselves as much as possible from the polluted outside world and from the constant noise of fans filtering the air. He likened this confined life to the happiness of now living in the open as well as the related feeling of sheer elation. The undergrounds of the E.S. spread over miles, and humans survived crammed into smelly tunnels displaying aggressive and white lighting. Anderson mingled his narrative descriptions of his world with aspects of his personal life. He thus described in detail an encounter with a woman called Helen, who would later become his wife. The alabaster complexion, common to all humans living underground in the absence of the sun, was beautiful in that woman. Like a porcelain doll, with big, black eyes and long lashes, her thick hair reached her hips. He had first looked at her from afar before daring to approach her. The love he felt for her was present in his writing; in his way of describing it; in how he talked about all those little things that made her unique to him. He wrote that she was a very private person. She had recently happened to be away for dayswithout giving any explanation. Yet her smile had the gift of instantly erasing all of Anderson’s queries. She must have had her reasons... he trusted her. They lived from day to day, seeing the world decline.
One day, the impossible loomed. A rumor spread about a possible exit from the underground, and into a new life in the open air. The rumor had grown, and hysteria spread in the underground world. Anderson even saw a woman screaming that she wanted to go out, rushing into an elevator. Surface lifts had not been maintained and were crumbling from year to year. Pressing the surface button, the woman started the elevator, which instead of rising, made a steep descent, and the brakes could not slow it down for a long time. The sound of the lift crashing down into the hole echoed in all the adjoining galleries. This tragedy by no means diminished people’s enthusiasm. They were nearly there; they had found a way to live again on the surface. When the population became uncontrollable, the president warned of his intention to give a televized address. At the set time, life came to a halt in the underground; every human being had his or her eyes on the TV set. Although Paul did not know what a TV was, he understood, however, that it was a means of communication. He continued reading feverishly.
Thomas Anderson stood beside Helen in front of the TV at Intersection 14. When the president appeared, the crowd became silent. The president announced that a new concept of space had been invented, which would multiply to the infinite the capacity of the Earth, and thus solve the problem of overpopulation. It was thus true! There was a solution! The president announced that people would be selected, based on their skills, to be among the pioneers who would go first to colonize the space. Everyone would then secure a place, once the pioneering teams had built the necessary infrastructure.
Authorities had assigned Anderson to the first team. He was not authorized to tell anyone, not even Helen, a ban that filled him with mixed feelings. He chronicled the meetings he attended with 50 other people who had been selected as he was. The challenge they faced was to take with them the best of humanity’s knowledge in order to establish a colony without going back to t
he Bronze Age while eliminating whole sections of their culture. One had to extract from society all desire for domination and expansion, inculcating respect for the environment, and respect for all forms of life, not just human life. Past mistakes should not be repeated, neither here nor there.
“Neither here nor there?” Paul stopped and rapped those words three times. “There” certainly meant Space H., but “here”... “here” — did it mean the Earliest Space? If past mistakes should not be repeated here, it was necessary that the descendants of ‘there’ not know... so it meant that the Earliest Space had survived... That was a revolutionary idea. Historically, researchers had been unanimous on this point. The Earliest Space — the place that the Elders departed from — had disappeared. After the Elders had limited their world to the Earliest Space in order to allow the creation of other spaces, they had abandoned that dilapidated world. It could not be otherwise. And yet Anderson was saying the opposite. Paul resumed his reading.
Choose what to take, decide what to forget, and destroy what had to be destroyed. Perhaps the remains would be stigmata of past mistakes... the consequences... but the causes were to be forgotten. Surface life would then become possible here... that was the promise of the Equilibrium.
Stigmata... the Earliest Space... More excited than ever, Paul reread the pages where Anderson described his discovery of Space H. When he had read them the first time, he was convinced that Anderson had left the E.S. to go to this new space, but was that really the case? What if he never left? What if he was only describing the life of those who were brought to the surface? It was possible. Yes, it was quite possible. One had to carry out archaeological excavations... maybe discover the stigmata... and what if Space H. was the E.S.?
“I already told you that the Earliest Space, as you see it, does not matter. Anyway, at least not now,” Edgard interrupted him.
