Chapter 7. Spurls and Stitches
Kate and Phoebe found to their relief that they could easily complete the sequences they Master had given them. They began with a row of letters.
AB AC AD AE AF
There was a choice of what came next; AK AB AG AL AY
Kate pointed to AG. There was a brief flare from the screen then the next sequence flashed up. As they progressed, the sequences became more difficult to follow, but the girls were sure they hadn’t done too badly when the Master announced they could go off for a break.
‘Come on, we’ll get away from the others or they’ll all want to ask questions about Lunar Circle,’ said Angelica commandingly. She guided the girls past a counter where they each collected a silver package about the size of a small shoebox.
‘I said I’d show them a spurl,’ Angelica told Celeste.
‘Oh good. Let’s go to one of the recs.’
They passed down a corridor past a number of archways with Angelica leading the way. From one of them came the sound of a monotonous chorus.
‘What’s that?’ asked Phoebe.
‘Those are the Chanters,’ explained Angelica. ‘Everyone has to take a turn at some stage. They chant the equations and perimeters that keep the Master System functioning smoothly. They have to be reinforced every seven revolutions or the Master System could deviate. That would result in chaos.’
‘What’s the Master System?’ Kate wanted to know.
‘It runs everything of course,’ said Angelica in amazement. ‘The System keeps us fed by deciding what is needed to be grown and when. It designs and maintains all the machines we use like the food panels and the hoverpads.
‘Each Base has its own Master,’ put in Celeste. ‘You’ve seen our one. He’s in charge of Aquarius base and keeps it running smoothly. We are all responsible for our part in the system. If we don’t obey it then we are punished.’
‘What sort of punishment?’
Angelica shrugged. ‘It might be having to do double chanting duty or solitude, that’s the usual one for students.’
Celeste shuddered. ‘I hate solitude. You get shut in a small cell with nothing but a study screen and a food panel and you can’t come out until you have completed the work that has been set for you.’
‘It sounds terrible!’ Kate and Phoebe exchanged appalled looks. ‘It sounds as if you all live in slavery to a computer system,’ Kate exploded. ‘Can’t you rebel against it?’
‘Only if you want to become Outcast,’ said Celeste in shocked tones. ‘Outcasts live outside the System and have to make all their own decisions and fend for themselves.’
‘They are at least free,’ Phoebe muttered quietly.
By this time the girls had reached a round area of soft mauve and grey vegetation that felt like a velvety moss.
‘There’s the spurl,’ said Angelica as a cascade of water spurted into the air before falling into a shallow curved basin.
‘It comes from deep inside the planet,’ Celeste told them. ‘This one is quite safe to drink, but some of the others are salty.’
She sat down on the edge of the basin and pressed her hand flat on the top of her box. She did the same for Angelica who casually thanked her. Kate and Phoebe copied Celeste and found themselves with an open box containing two farinatas and a bunch of what looked like grapes but had a distinct custardy taste.
‘Who makes the food?’ asked Kate as she stuffed the last of her farinata in her mouth.
‘The System.’
‘Yes, you said. But who actually makes it into these bun things and puts it in boxes?’
‘Machines, of course,’ Celeste and Angelica chorused.
‘What if you don’t like what they give you?’ asked Phoebe curiously.
Celeste and Angelica immediately looked shocked. ‘That’s not allowed,’ Celeste pointed out. ‘It’s the first thing you learn as a baby that you have to eat what you are given. Otherwise you go hungry.’
‘In our own apartments we get a bit of a choice,’ Angelica added. ‘But we can’t have too much of any one thing and the meals have to be balanced.’
Kate thought about this for a while. ‘When Angelica brought us here with the transducer, wasn’t that against the System? What sort of punishment would they give you if they found out?’
‘Sh,’ said Celeste guiltily, looking around to see if they had been overheard.
‘We are allowed to experiment a little for our Glory Walk projects,’ Angelica mumbled.
‘Probably not that much though,’ admitted Celeste.
‘We have to work out a way to get back home,’ said Kate.
‘Oh, Gemini! Stop going on about it, will you?’ spat Angelica crossly. ‘I’ve already said we can’t do anything.’
‘We can’t stay here,’ said Phoebe in alarm. ‘We don’t belong here.’
‘I’ll let you know when I’ve thought of a solution. Now stop bothering me!’ Angelica stormed off glowering.
‘Come on,’ said Celeste. ‘It’s time for our talent work now. Angelica is going to try Harmonising but you can join me in the Sewing Circle.
The Sewing Circle sounded peaceful but was far from it. Under the critical eye of several older women, Phoebe and Kate were given plain pieces of a linen type fabric, slender needles and a selection of coloured threads.
‘We’ll start you off on something simple. Good health for the wearer. These will be worked into pockets on robes,’ a plump woman in a red robe explained.
Kate struggled to thread her needle as Phoebe began a simple cross-stitch around the edge of her fabric.
‘I can’t sew,’ she whispered.
Phoebe was amazed. She thought everyone could sew. ‘Keep going with this,’ she said in an undertone. I’ll start your one for you.’ They swapped fabric and Phoebe soon found that Kate had not been exaggerating. She pulled the stitches too tight, knotted the thread and left jagged holes where she attempted to push the needle though. Phoebe quietly took over and worked both pieces in turn, leaving Kate to hold one and pretend to be working. ‘This seems to be the only thing they do for themselves,’ she whispered. ‘Everything else is done by machines.’
‘I’m all for machines doing the sewing as well,’ Kate groaned.
‘Are you working good health into them?’ a sharp-faced woman in grey demanded. ‘Let me see.’ she picked up Phoebe’s fabric and examined it. ‘Why this is very good,’ she said in surprise. ‘You’ve put friendship and compassion into it. Not good health though. Never mind. That’s a very good start.’ With these encouraging words she went to help another student.
‘What did she mean?’ asked Kate in bewilderment.
‘I think it’s what you feel when you are doing the stitching,’ said Phoebe uncertainly. ‘Because I’m doing it to help you, that must have come through in the work somehow.’
Kate blinked. ‘What a strange place this is.’
Phoebe agreed. ‘They seem to be run by this computer system they are so scared of. Kate, how are we going to get back?’
‘I don’t know. We’ll see what Angelica can come up with.’
But five days passed and Angelica had not come up with anything. Kate and Phoebe became used to living in the System. They used voice commands to collect their food and clothes, organise their washing and sleeping arrangements and even found they were coping at study. The second day they went to the Master their screens had work for them in their own language and soon they were groaning through complicated Maths problems and essays on ‘My Life in Lunar Circle.’ Kate was very creative with this one and Phoebe confessed she dreaded to think what would happen if anyone who was actually from Lunar Circle ever turned up. ‘Not that ever they do apparently, well, Celeste says hardly ever. But you’ve got them riding motorized skateboards and living on hamburgers. It’s very unlikely.’
‘So is moon sailing unlikely,’ retorted Kate. ‘It’s better than yours anyway. You’ve got everyone living in tents under palm trees and ri
ding camels.’
‘We were studying the Sahara in my last school,’ grinned Phoebe. ‘I couldn’t be bothered inventing anything new.’
At the end of a week there was a day off study. The girls took a hoverpad and skimmed across the base to a deserted recreation area. A clump of deep blue leaves with star shaped creamy flowers grew beneath a towering silver spire.
‘Aren’t they pretty,’ Phoebe commented. She stepped over and reached out her hand as Celeste and Angelica together screeched, ‘don’t touch it!’
The Glory Walk Page 7
