"Welcome, 62. I hope you don't mind the scenery. I get quite tired of being stuck inside C.A.T."
The Boy spun around again, surprised to find his teacher sitting on a hover chair just behind him. "Oh, hello." 62 waved slightly at the familiar figure. "I didn't see you before. I don't normally dream about you, or anything like this."
"Didn't you say that you enjoyed dreaming about a world without Machines?"
"Yes." 62 nodded, but also wore a look of confusion. He didn't normally dream about people, and never did anyone in his dream speak to him like this. It was almost like the teacher was continuing the conversations they had in the tutoring sessions.
"Well, here is a place without a Machine in sight. It is one of my most favorite places to visit in dreams. I call it 'The Meadow'. I haven't ever brought anyone here with me before." The old Man got up from his hover chair, only to get down on his hands and knees on the green floor. He rolled over onto his back where he sprawled out with arms and feet spread as far in opposite directions as they would go.
"I just saw a Machine." 62 pointed at his feet. "It crawled across my foot."
"Ah, that was no Machine. I dreamed up a Tapinoma Sessile for you, and this beautiful stuff is no floor. It's called Poa Pratensis, and it grows above the Terra instead of being built there." The Man looked up into the suspicious eyes of the young Boy and patted the patch of green beside him. "Here, give it a try. You'll probably find that you like it a lot better than the metal floor you're sleeping on."
62 mimicked the moves of his elder, first getting on all fours and taking a moment to feel the blades of Poa Pratensis between his fingers. It had a distinct sweet smell, unlike anything he'd ever smelled before. He took in a big breath and was amazed at how enjoyable just the act of breathing in this dream was, and then rolled over onto his back and sank into the thick growth.
The two figures laid in silence for a time, each staring up at the high blue ceiling above them. Suddenly, a thought flashed its way across 62's face and he sat up abruptly. "What do you mean you dreamed something up?"
The Man smiled cleverly and closed his eyes. "It is true that I am very old, but my age has made me privy to bountiful knowledge. I learned long ago that two people can share the same dream, if both people are so inclined. I've been watching your dreams, and although they are interesting, they are also void of any colorful expression. I decided a place like The Meadow would be much more conducive to a creative conversation than the steel walls of the school that we both already know."
"You've been watching my dreams?" The idea of the teacher watching him was unsettling, especially since the 71 might think he was bad. If the Man mentioned it to one of the Nurses they would probably find 62 worthy of severe punishment. "Can anyone else see them?"
71 propped his head up on his elbow and lazily played with a long blade of the Poa Pratensis. "There are others, and they have seen glimpses of your dreams." He looked quickly up at the Boy and smiled reassuringly. "But they have not seen anything that might damage their opinion of you, and they will not interfere with your dreaming unless you invite them to. I normally wouldn't take over your dreams uninvited either, but I had to make sure that you were alright after you missed class."
62 looked away from the Man as a flicker of anger ignited inside of him. Gradually, the wispy blue that surrounded the landscape darkened until it was a deep red. The light around the student and his teacher flickered and created a stark contrast between the red glow of their faces and the shadows dancing around them.
"The Nurse said there was something wrong with me." The Boy grumbled as he tried to remember exactly what the Nurse had said. "It told me that I appeared 'unwell' and that I wasn't performing optimally."
71 picked himself up from where he lay, the lush green Poa Pratensis that had surrounded him quickly dissolving into a floor of black metal panels connected by sharp steel rivets. He crossed his arms, tucking his long beard against his chest and staring at the drastic changes in the landscape.
A row of Nurses appeared on the horizon; each flashing identical yellow eyes as they watched the two figures conversing. 62 turned to face them, and the metal floor surrounding the small child began to bubble and swell as it melted into liquid steel.
"It sprayed me with the fog and put me to sleep for the whole cycle. I missed everything, and it's all the Machine's fault!" 62 broke into a run, heading straight for the line of Nurses. Instead of building up a defensive stance, or calling to the Boy to bid him to behave, the dream-Nurses simply stood still and waited for the attack to come.
62 screamed and tears filled his eyes as he pushed the Nurses against one another in a furious rage. He pulled at their hoses and smashed their gauges until they began to hiss and spray fluid and steam. The Boy kicked the Nurses and dented their frames so that they couldn't stand upright, and then he knocked them down until the group of Nurses lay splayed across the floor; limbs bent at awkward angles.
The young Boy stopped suddenly, realizing for the first time that he could do anything he wanted to the Nurses in his dream. Clenching his fists and closing his eyes tight, he willed the floor beneath the pile of derelict Machines to bubble and boil until it melted into sputtering liquid. As the floor melted, each of the non-moving Nurses slowly sank to the bottom of the boiling pit and soon the whole pile of them was no longer in view. Satisfied, 62 opened his eyes and smiled as he watched the last molten bubble burst. The floor instantly transformed into cool, hardened steel once again.
"I see." 71 spoke softly from across the vacant room. "I understand that you are upset, but you must know that the Nurses and other Machines only have your best interest in mind."
62 spun on his teacher and fumed, "What's that supposed to mean? All they do is tell me to be a good Boy, and then attack me whenever I do something that is different. They make us all do the same things over and over for no reason, and then if we do anything different they treat us like we have some kind of virus that has to be deleted."
"Yes," the Man nodded in agreement, "that is what they do. It's what they are meant to do. It is what they were designed for."
"They were designed to make me go into a fog-sleep and then not let me out of my cube? Designed to tell me I'm unwell? Why?" The Boy stomped his foot as he shouted the final question at his teacher. The whole room vibrated with the force of his frustration.
"Yes, that is exactly right. They were designed to monitor our wellness and have been directed to take any means necessary to ensure that we remain healthy. Even when it is the opposite of what we feel is right, the Nurses must act if they detect an anomaly because that is their function. It's what they were built and programmed for, and is the only function that they are capable of performing from the moment they are built until the moment they are dismantled."
The Man closed his eyes and inhaled deeply the smell of sterile steel. When he exhaled, his breath came out in a burst of cold air that cooled the metal landscape created by the Boy. As the heated red and black metal began to fade into polished silver, 71 approached 62 and placed his hands on the Boy's shoulders.
"Dear Brother, until the time comes that you are clever enough to look beyond the steel walls that surround us you must accept them as they are. It will take time, but if you are patient then you will discover your function within Adaline, and hopefully through your dreams you will find your function without it as well. Take care, Brother, and rest. This will be another cycle filled with steep challenges and as the Nurse has told you, you will need to be functioning at your optimal level of performance."
62 closed his eyes as the teacher spoke, focusing on the soft voice and the unyielding grip of the Man's hands on his shoulders. When the silence following his elder's speech overtook him, 62 opened his eyes to the stark flickering lights above him in his cube. The sounds of breakfast hummed through the tubes and 62 realized that a new cycle had just begun.
CHAPTER 10
1124562 was deep in thought as he moved through the Dressing
Hall. He was trying to remember his dream from the night before, and marveled in how real it all seemed. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice when 1124999 shouted his number from the line behind him.
"62! Hey, 1124562!" 99 jumped and looked over the dozen or so Boys standing in line between him and his brother. "62, turn around!"
62 continued to slowly shuffle toward the Dressing Hall. It was difficult to make 62 out from the rest of the heads bobbing ahead of him but 99 could just make out the familiar tussle and mess of 62's hair from another night of tossing and turning. 99 almost always found himself in line behind 62 in the morning and noticed that more often than not, his hair was ruffled and knotted.
"62! Pay attention and turn around!" 99 grimaced in frustration and decided to use another tactic. He tapped the shoulder of the Boy in front of him and said, "Hey, can you pass a message up the line for me?"
The Boy in front of 99 turned his head to look over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"62, turn around. That's all. Pass it on, please?"
The Boy tapped the shoulder of the identical Boy in front of him and said, "Hey, pass a message. 62, turn around."
Boy after Boy followed suit, each tapping the shoulder of the Boy in front of him and speaking a message. Finally after several turns of message passing 99 saw the Boy behind 62 tap him on the shoulder. 62 turned slightly and listened to the message. A look of confusion filled his face, and 99 watched as he seemed to ask for the message again. 62 looked dumbfounded and said something else to the Boy, who immediately answered by pointing down the line.
62 looked at the Boys standing behind him, and found 99 frantically waving at him. 62 stepped out of line to move back to where 99 stood, and the Boy behind him grabbed at his arm.
"Where are you going? We aren't supposed to break the line."
"I just need to go back to see 99. Don't worry, just take my spot. No one will notice." 62 pulled his arm out of his brother's grasp and walked away, leaving the confused Boy to figure out for himself what to do now that there was a gap ahead of him.
"Hey," 62 said as he approached 99. "How did you know?"
"Know what?" 99 stepped backward a pace, knocking into the Boy behind him as he made room for 62 to re-enter the line.
"That I burned the ground," 62 answered. "Well, it was more melting than burning. I guess there isn't much difference. But anyway, how did you know? Were you one of the ones watching?"
99 looked around to make sure that none of the Nurses or Shower Assistants noticed the change in the Boys' order in line. As he craned his neck back and forth he asked, "Watched what? How would you burn the ground?"
62 was confused. "The message you sent up the line. They said you told them I burned the ground last night. Did someone tell you that?"
"Oh!" 99 stopped looking at the Nurses, satisfied that they either hadn't noticed or weren't concerned with the switch. "No, I said '62 turn around'. I don't know how they changed that to 'burned the ground. That doesn't even make sense!" 99 laughed.
"Ah, yeah. That is pretty ridiculous." 62 chuckled along with his brother, hoping that no one else had noticed his slip-up. "I guess they lost the message along the line or something. So what did you want?"
99 and 62 each took two steps forward as the line progressed. "I just wanted to talk to you and see how you are doing. Weird things seem to keep happening and a couple of us are worried about you."
"Weird things? Like what?" 62 wondered how much his brother knew. He remembered 71 telling him to be careful not to share his secrets, but worried that the old Man might have told others about his anger and dreams.
"You know, like a few cycles ago when you forgot to get dressed. And then getting the spray and not coming to class." 99 looked at 62 with serious disapproval. "Some Boys never make it back from stuff like that."
"Oh, that." 62 folded his arms and tapped his foot nervously on the hard floor. "Yeah, that was pretty weird I guess. One of the Nurses told me that I looked unwell. I guess that meant something was wrong with me. But I feel fine now."
99 shook his head and pushed 62 forward lightly to get him to move with the line. "I hope you're fine. I don't think I could stand to lose two brothers at the same time."
62 stopped mid-step, forcing all the Boys behind 99 to stop sharply, too. "Two brothers? What do you mean?"
"1125000 got taken away in the middle of the night." 99 held back a whimper. "He was animated right after me. We were only three seconds apart!"
62 noticed a couple of Nurses coming down the line, asking each of the Boys why they were stopped. 62 turned around to face the front of the line and hurried forward to fill the gap between himself and the Boy ahead of him. 99 realized what was happening and did the same. As the Boys in line behind them moved forward and spaced themselves evenly again, the Nurses lost interest and moved back to their posts on opposite ends of the room.
"What happened?" 62 asked this time without turning around. He listened to 99's answer but was more careful to pay attention and move as he should when the line advanced.
"It was awful!" 99 spoke a little louder than was permitted, and the Boys around them quickly shushed him. 99 looked around and shrugged a halfhearted apology. He turned back to look at the back of 62's head and whispered, "I mean, it was awful.
"We were asleep, and had been for a long time. It had to have been a long while because I felt almost rested. Anyway, one second I was asleep and the next second there was this screaming coming from somewhere far away. It didn't sound like it was coming from inside one of the cubes. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere farther. Like maybe in the Dressing Hall, or from one of the corridors leading to one of the other pods."
"One of the other pods?" 62 still faced the front of the line, but his eyebrows did a little dance on his forehead. "But we've never heard anything come from any of the other pods before."
"I know!" 99 spoke excitedly, forgetting himself for a moment, flailing his hands above him in exasperation. The Boy behind him bumped him in the back and shushed him again. "Oh, sorry. I mean, I know!"
"Even if it came from the Dressing Hall, there's no way that you could have heard it. They close the doors at night, don't they?" 62 took another step toward the Shower Assistant. It was nearly his turn to shower and dress.
"Yes, normally." 99 leaned in close to 62 and whispered in his ear. "But last night none of the doors between our pods or the Dressing Hall closed. I heard some of the Boys talking and they said that they think 1125000 reprogrammed the doors to stay open. They say he tried to escape!"
"Escape?" 62 spun around to look at 99 just as the Boy ahead of him exited the shower. "Escape what?"
99 moved along with 62 as he stepped into the shower and spoke quickly before the Shower Assistant pushed him back out of the stall to wait with the others. "They say 00 was trying to leave C.A.T.!"
CHAPTER 11
"I understand that there is some talk amongst the Boys in your pod about the alleged exit of a young lad with a knack for programming."
The Boys in the classroom all looked around at their brothers, murmuring and nodding excitedly. The news of 1125000's attempt to leave the facility had spread like a virus. It was obvious that there wasn't a single Boy thinking about anything else. The drone of their whispers filled every corner of C.A.T. 71 wasn't the only Man struggling to gain the attention of his class this morning.
"Ahem!" 71 stood up from his desk, attempting to look as intimidating as possible. A few Boys in the front row took notice and quieted down, but the effect was lost on the rest of the room. The Boys in front of 71 realized that the rest of the class was ignoring him, and resumed their conversation.
71 wasn't one to allow students to rule the bit of precious time he had away from his cube and resolved to take control. He leaned over his tablet and tapped his way through a set of commands. He glanced up at the room and a mischievous smile graced his lips as he selected the final prompt.
Squeals of surpri
se filled the air, and the din of conversation was overtaken by an orchestra of thuds as all of the desks and hover chairs fell to the floor. The Boys lay sprawled amongst piles of prone furniture, and they wriggled against each other as they tried to untangle themselves from the wreckage.
"There, that's better." 71 sat down in his own hover chair, still gliding in place where it belonged. "If you please, I would enjoy your attention for the rest of our class time."
The Boys turned their heads to face the teacher. A few had been able to find their way upright, but the majority of them still lay on the floor with heads resting on neighbors, tablets and the occasional overturned desk.
"As I said, there has been some talk this morning about the alleged exit of one of your brothers." 71 tapped his fingers against the screen of his tablet and the furniture around the room slowly rose back to its prescribed height. Each piece of furniture hovered its way back to its assigned row. The Boys silently limped back to their seats, folded their hands respectfully in front of them and turned to face their teacher like good Boys should.
"It's amazing how quickly false information spreads through the Pods, isn't it? I can assure you that whatever you have heard, it is undeniably a rumor with no designs for productive communication."
A swell of murmurs began to overtake the room again, but 71 continued his lecture before he lost control. "This concept of someone attempting to leave C.A.T. is unheard of. There is nothing outside of C.A.T. but the Community, and there is no place for a Boy to enter the Community who has not been placed into a career. If anyone were to try, despite those facts, they would quickly find that the code required to attempt an exit is beyond the grasp of anyone in your age group. You are untrained and don't hold the skills required for such a feat. The structure of the Community dictates that any action, such as the reprogramming of a door for example, could only be done if that change was approved by someone much more important than any of us. I'm certain that such an approval would not be given to anyone in this facility."
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