by Eden Wolfe
"Maybe we're moving to a system of rations. I always thought that would be what came next."
"Like with vouchers to trade for food?"
"Exactly."
"Trudith?" Anna held her hand so they wouldn't get separated.
"What?"
"Are you sure you can't tell?" Anna didn't dare use the words 'that I'm pregnant', though Trudith knew exactly what she meant.
"I'm sure. I said it before and it's still true now. But you've got to stay focused here. Forget about that." If Anna had some kind of panic attack or went into labor early, it would be disastrous for all of them. She looked over at Anna whose face was serene and remarkably calm.
Maybe she can handle this after all.
Trudith set her eyes straight ahead, the crowd still pushing forward, though it was all very well organized. The guards flanked them, making sure everyone stayed in a kind of intense procession, and guards at the rear made sure there were no stragglers. It was exactly as they said they would do. And so far, no violence.
The Queen has made good on her promises so far. That this is a time for critical information to be shared and not for a crackdown on behavior. Not that I want to put that to the test.
"Stop! Stop there!" Trudith heard ahead. "Cork Town Residents take these two roads, fill them, and be sure you have access to a screen!"
The same words were echoed behind her, each guard saying the same.
"Be sure you have access to a screen!"
And quieter in the distance behind, "Be sure you have access to a screen."
She and Anna stood still. They had a good line of sight on a screen that was mounted on an angle of a street corner. Trudith looked at Anna, who looked back at her. Trudith tried to give the most encouraging face she could, but she wasn't sure it came off right. Anna blinked and looked back to the screen.
She's not far off from the full gestational period now. Just don't let it be today. Don't let there even be any signs of it coming.
Trudith tried to make a plan for how to handle it if something went wrong, If Anna experienced pain or - curse the thought - went into labor. Normally Trudith liked having back up plans. But there was no way to back up this one. It just had to go according to plan.
Someone somewhere behind them shoved forward, and bodies waved outwards from it with a variety of grunts. Trudith caught her balance and automatically reached out to hold Anna up.
The screen clicked on. It showed the main city square, stuffed full of people in every direction. A sea of brown hair with the occasional dot that must have been someone from the outer counties, though Trudith couldn't see the details. Each head was barely the size of a pinprick. The screen changed to show views down side streets, alleys, anywhere there was a screen. It wasn't just the roads where the Cork Town folk gathered that were full to the max, it was everywhere in Geb. Trudith's eyes were glued to the screen. She'd never heard of Geb being like this, much less seen it with her own eyes.
And still, the voices were hushed.
Anna squeezed her hand just as the Commandante appeared on the screen.
"Guard. Positions. Set."
A singular clack echoed throughout the streets as the Guard moved into the same stance; Trudith could see the guard nearest to them, her legs outspread and hands on hips, the same position as the Commandante.
Over the screen she heard footsteps; the camera focused in on the balcony of the fortress.
One step.
Then another.
Step. Step. Step.
It felt like forever.
Where is she? How can she keep us waiting like this?
And then she appeared.
Her gown was the same one she wore at her coronation, the collar pulled high up her neck as her chest opened out to the people, her skin smooth. The black velvet caught the midday light and rippled with it like diamonds across a night water. Trudith was transfixed, like every other pair of eyes in Geb.
The Queen lowered her head, her shoulders lifting with heavy breath. When her head again rose, Trudith saw pain in her eyes. Even over the screens, it was palpable. Her green eyes shone with it, and without knowing why, Trudith felt the sadness with her.
Could we have been wrong about the Queen? She hasn't even said a word and yet everything in her speaks volumes more than what we've thought.
Her lips parted, mouth suspended in time. Trudith felt everyone around her stopped. It seemed like they'd all stopped breathing, only a collective heart beating between them.
The Queen began.
"People of Lower Earth."
The sound echoed out from the screens, over their heads, like four queens were speaking at once.
"You have come today because you have been called. But you will leave with one mind. Every one of you is experiencing individual hardship. I know it. I see it. I hear of it every day. And my heart breaks for you."
A tear crested in her eye but didn't fall.
"The settlers who came gave us life when our planet was failing. When men had all but destroyed everything, the settlers gave us life anew. My ancestors, my family. How grateful I am to them for their sacrifice. When they landed on the lava rock – the very rock we wear around our necks as a reminder of their hardship – they did not know what would become of us. And yet,” she leaned forward over the balcony, taking in the crowd, “Here we are. We stand tall. We stand, alive and fighting!”
She paused, putting both hands on the amulet, her lips moving as though she were speaking to it. Trudith noticed that she too was holding her amulet in her hand. Tightly.
If only the settlers could see what’s become of us.
She didn’t have time to continue the thought. The Queen began speaking again.
“We have the best among us working in the Tower, day and night they slave to find solutions to the scourge you experience. The illnesses, the crop killers. They are the ones who developed the very fortification powder that keeps many of us going. They try everything to predict the changing weather patterns so that we do not experience another period like the second generation. They do their best, but this world is a difficult one to predict indeed. My gratitude to them is infinite. I may be Queen, but I cannot do as they do. My gratitude to you, those of the Tower."
She bent her head low. Trudith found herself doing it too, without really knowing why.
The Queen inhaled through her lips, and exhaled, the sound of her breath alive in Trudith's ears. Trudith's breath carried the same weight. It could have been her own breath she heard across the crowd of millions. Her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"My friends, my family, my people. I must tell you now why you are here and I must say it quickly lest I lose my courage. More information will come. You will forgive me if it seems I've brought you all here with such ceremony for the briefest of announcements. But you will understand. I know you will."
The Queen blinked, the tear breaking free and rolling down her cheek.
"There is a virus amongst you."
For the first time, there were murmurs across the crowd.
"Do not speak! Listen. Listen and then you will have every opportunity to discuss. Indeed, you must, for we must resolve this together, as one." She looked straight out. "It runs amongst the youngest of us. The weakest of us. Our children."
She paused, everything was silent.
"So far we have no evidence of it being transmitted to those who were born more than three years ago, but we could be wrong. It afflicts the respiratory system, attacking the most basic functions, and it's not visible to our equipment until it is too late. It causes great distress in the bearer. Our children. Our poor children."
The Queen stopped, and then lifted her chin high, the streak where the tear had fallen caught the sunlight and gleamed on the screen.
"We will find a cure! Of that, you can be sure. But until then, we must protect them, and we must protect ourselves. The degradation of the children's vital systems is evident. We have already begun preparing a place
where they can be comfortable, continue their studies, and a dedicated team of the Tower's best are working on a cure. A vaccine. A treatment. They will find it. And in the meantime, we will protect our most vulnerable from exposure to other illnesses that could compound their condition. And we will protect the rest of Lower Earth from exposure to a virus we still know so little about."
Her chin set itself straight again. "Listen to me carefully, Lower Earth. We will not allow women to go the way of men. We will overcome this virus; we will find those responsible for propagating it. We will locate the birthplace of this enemy and we will cut it down at the quick!" Her fist shot into the air. "The children will be taken in the coming days to their quarantine. The rest of you must now move with the resolve of which I know you are capable, back to your lives, back to your duties. Speak of this. Understand it with us. We hold nothing back from you and we invite your questions. But first, we must set our operations in place. We will have time to discuss, to challenge, to explore. But first, in these coming days, I ask for your solidarity, as your friend. And I demand it, as your Queen. As you are mine so am I to you. Move away in silence now, following the Guard. They will lead you home."
The Queen turned and walked back into the fortress.
Her steps echoed again across the crowd.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The screen cut to black.
Trudith looked at Anna. Their hands were squeezed so tight that Trudith felt the imprint of Anna's nails as though they were her own.
"Leave as you came!" The Guard cried out, each one echoing the one who came before across each section of the crowd.
"Leave as you came!"
"Leave as you came!"
Still, no one spoke. Trudith could feel the heat coming off Anna's body as they walked in measured steps back to Cork Town.
32
Lucius
The insistent knocking was drilling a hole in Lucius' head. He'd tried ignoring it, but whoever it was, she was not satisfied by his silence.
"I'm busy!" he finally yelled from bed.
"Lucius, let me in. It's Trudith. From the pub. Please let me in."
Lucius sat up as quickly as he could, nothing in him moved fast enough anymore. He managed to get himself off the bed and over to the door, opening it just wide enough for Trudith to enter.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed at her. "You're putting us both at great risk, never mind the girl."
"I came straight from the Briefing. We have to figure out what to do."
"What to do about what?" Lucius was losing interest now. If Trude was on his doorstep, he'd figured it was because the girl was going into early labor, or something worse, with 4957-209. "I'm not interested in politics anymore."
"Politics? This isn't about politics. This is about what they are going to do. With the children."
"With the children?" Lucius was getting a sour feeling in his stomach.
"Weren't you at the Tuesday Briefing?" Trudith's eyes were wide, the whites of them glowing under his naked light bulb.
"Of course not."
"What do you mean 'of course not'?"
"I told you, politics don’t interest me."
"But the Guard came - "
He wasn't about to show her his hiding place. It was bad enough that he'd revealed it to Sara. If ever she was captured, he couldn't be sure she wouldn't reveal everything about it.
"I have my ways. Now, until you have something relevant about 4957-209, the girl, that is, then it's best you never come back here again."
"Lucius." Trudith crossed her arms. "You'd better sit down. I have more than politics to tell you."
A virus. So that's how they've explained their botched incubation program. And I thought they'd release them all into the sea, run them off the Rainfields cliffs, or some other such poetic violence.
Trudith had told him everything in quick delivery, bullets of information shot at him as he struggled to organize it all in his head. And then in a moment, it all made sense. He gave Trudith a sufficiently condescending pat on the back and told her not to worry about it, that it didn't affect their plans, that they had to stay the course as they'd promised to do. And she'd nodded as if she understood.
But Lucius knew. This changed all their plans.
'Children under three years' is a ruse. They'll up it to age five with time. Just didn't want to call attention to it too soon. Didn't want people making the connection between the campaign, the births, the coronation. I wonder who helped prepare the communications plan. Maeva could have, but she'd be too flustered at the whole thing to think clearly. The Commandante is too blunt.
Perhaps it was Ariane all on her own. She has the cunning to pull it off, that's for sure.
He looked back to Trudith who was rapt before him, waiting for something, though he wasn't sure what.
"You look like you have a question, Trude."
"A question? No. I don't have a question. I have panic, deeply carved into the middle of my body. A question." She shook her head. "Lucius, they said the virus could transmit. And who do you think it'll transmit to? It won’t be the women of Geb center, and it won’t be by accident."
"You're getting a little too much into conspiracy theories here now, Trude." He needed her to calm down or the guards patrolling would smell her out like a rat. "There have been viruses in the past. Quarantine is not so unusual."
"Then why call all of Cork Town to the briefing? Why not just broadcast it on the screen in a loop? We'd get the information that way. Why bring us in, Lucius? Why bring us in?"
"Shhhhh," he pulled her deeper into his apartment, worried that her rising voice might catch more than one eager eavesdropper. "Trudith, we have to play it cool here. None of this will be happening overnight. We watch. We observe. We track with the changes just as we've done for the past few months. And we respond when the time comes in a way that preserves us."
"You've always been about 'preservation', Lucius. I don't want to preserve this. This is no life, under constant scrutiny, constant fear. This is why women go to the Sisters. I would if I could but I don't even have the right to leave this hole of Lower Earth unless it's under the watchful eye of the Queen's Guard, and only to bear witness to the Queen's announcement of an upcoming quarantine. For a virus. One that might already be loose in Cork Town. I don't want to preserve any of this, Lucius."
Lucius racked his brain, seeking out the right words to console Trudith, to bring her anxiety down a notch.
But she's right. How can I reassure a woman whose anxious intuition is correct?
Lucius nodded, "I see what you mean, Trude. Your panic is not unfounded."
"That's right, it's not."
"But it's all a question of timing."
Trudith cocked her head, and Lucius felt confident he'd distracted her from the main point just enough to bring her down a level.
"What has timing got to do with it?"
"There are times when if you act, you get your immediate satisfaction – and then you’re disappeared. And then there are times to act which have a longer-lasting effect, a slower burn. And those moments transform in small steps, over time. So you're not wrong. But you have to consider strategy. And timing."
Trudith looked at the ceiling and nodded. "Yes, timing makes the difference."
He put his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me, Trude. Now is not the time to jeopardize Anna. She's relying on you and she's relying on me. We provide her with reassurance and confidence, and she provides Lower Earth with a rewritten future. We have to stay the course, Trudith. You have to stay the course. Don't cut out on me now."
"I won't."
"Good girl." He patted her shoulders. "Now take a roundabout route to go home. One where no one can guess you came from here."
Trudith nodded and slipped out the door.
Lucius double-locked it behind her and sat down hard in his wheelchair. He was suddenly feeling his age.
33
&
nbsp; Maeva
All through the briefing, guilt clawed at Maeva's gut. It took every ounce of her energy to look up at the balcony from the fortress entry, to not scream out at the madness it had all become.
And now she was going mad in her apartment. It felt like the stone of the walls was caving in on her from all four sides. The more she tried to think clearly, the more claustrophobic she got.
Why is there no air in the room? I just need a minute to figure this out!
She opened the window, a gust of air washing over her. The sensation distracted her just long enough that the voices took advantage of her guard being down. The voices of Queens past rolled over sounds and bubbled up, though she did everything to keep them muffled. Their advice would be toxic in a situation like this. How many times before had she heeded their warnings in times of distress just to be led down the wrong path?
They are responsible for the birth of the four. The death of Sahna - oh, how I miss you, my mentor! If only you were here now. Archer, I had so much fear of Archer because of them and the poison they spoke of him. And for what? He's in the ground having done nothing but attempted to fulfill my horrible commands. Even the culling among my daughters was their idea.
My daughters.
I was supposed to be better than my own mother. I was supposed to take her code and be the Queen Mother she should have been to me.
But I am exactly the same as her.
The exact same.
Maeva punched the stone wall and the rock crumbled under her fist. She stood, trying to quiet her heart, trying to ignore the voices.
But they wouldn't let her ignore them.
"A virus?"
"This is the beginning of chaos."
"Millions of people have heard it."
"Civilization will regress as they try to protect themselves."
