The Society

by A I Knowles

  I flick the button on my lamp and add its light to his. When El reaches the spot where our tunnel meets the subway one, he stops and looks to the left, then the right, taking off for the other side at a brisk jog.

  We travel this way, our lamp light bouncing and our steps thudding on the dirt, for quite a while. When I’m fighting to catch my breath, he finally slows the pace to a walk. I pull my pack forward and take out a meal pack and a bottle of water, which I consume as we keep moving. I barely notice the flavor. These things never taste like much anyway. If I thought Society food was bland, these meal packs make me rethink my assessment. But after all, they’re intended as survival food, not to be an appealing feast. At least the calories quiet the grumbling of my stomach and clear some of the fog from my mind.

  At one point I could swear I hear another hum far behind us, but when we stop to listen, there’s nothing but silence.

  “How much further?”

  Ahead, El shrugs. “Maybe another two miles.”

  I want to whine, but settle for a sigh. He pauses and looks back at me. “What?”

  My legs feel like they’re on fire and I’m pretty sure my feet are bleeding. “Nothing.”

  He raises an eyebrow. “If you want to stop, you have to tell me. I’m not a mind reader.”

  “No. I don’t want to stop. I want to go faster.” My shoe lands on a particularly large rock and I can’t suppress a groan.

  “Okay, that’s it. We’re resting.”

  “No, El. We need to get there so we can help. People are waiting and dying as they wait for help.”

  “Alyss.” He grabs my arms and with one hand, tilts my chin up to force me to look at him. “Ten minutes isn’t going to make that much of a difference.” I go still as his hand moves from my chin to tuck loose strands of hair behind my ear. Tingling trails behind his touch as his fingertips brush my cheek. I flash back to that moment when he’d stumbled from the smoke and kissed me, and in this moment I want nothing more than for him to do it again.

  When he drops his hand and takes a step back, the short distance between us becomes a chasm I feel I can’t cross.

  I sigh and flop onto the ground. “Fine. Ten minutes.”

  ***

  Right around the time I feel I can’t take another step, the tunnel turns a corner and ends, rather abruptly, at another ladder. A round, brick-walled shaft disappears into the darkness above our heads. I lift my lantern to try and see the top, but this one is much taller than the last. El laughs when I groan and look at him reproachfully. “What? You thought ‘hill’ was a name we picked just for the heck of it?”

  “I wasn’t really thinking.” I put my lamp back on its carabiner as El steps aside and gestures at the ladder.

  “Ladies first.”

  “What if I fall on you?”

  He grins. “Then I’ll catch you instead of you plummeting to your death.”

  I grimace at him. “Now there’s a pleasant thought.” As I step up to the ladder and force my sore limbs to propel me upward, I’m not sure whether it was the falling or the catching I was referring to. I’m not even sure if I’m being sarcastic or truthful.

  By the time we’ve gone up twenty rungs, my arms and calves are cramping. My foot slips off of a bar and I gasp, wrapping my arms around the side poles to keep myself from falling.

  El’s hand touches my other ankle. “You’re okay. Catch your breath.”

  I lean my forehead against the rung as I wait for my heart to slow. “You’re entirely too patient with me sometimes.”

  Below me, El chuckles. “We all have our struggles. Society kids always take a while to adjust, and you’ve had a rougher time of it than most. The rest of them didn’t have their lives fall apart a second time after their first week.”

  “Right.” I don’t have breath, or the focus, for any more of a reply. After a few more repetitions of inhaling dirt-scented air and letting it back out, I reach up and grab the next rung. Foot up, then hand, then foot. One after the other.

  I’ve passed from pain to numbness by the time I reach the top. Well, except for the new and rather sudden hurt that comes from my head colliding with a trapdoor. I hiss and rub the top of my skull.

  “What the heck, Alyss, just push the button.”

  I look up and spot the large blue button near the edge of the square door. I reach up to press it, and with a whoosh, it slides back. Blinding light floods the shaft as I make one last effort to climb over the top of the ladder and collapse on a shiny, white-tiled floor.

  Chapter 16: The Android

  El climbs up next to me and sits on the tile, chuckling at me as he leans back on his hands.

  I let my legs and arms go limp as I stare up at the ceiling and wait for my eyes to adjust to the bright light. Far above, white beams create large rectangles with frosted glass in each one. “We made it.”

  “Did you doubt we would?”

  Turning my head to look at his amused face, I think back to those moments beneath the blanket. “For a minute, yeah.”

  “Nah. That’s life with the rebels, miss Society. We consider it a good day if we only have to dodge drones once.” He gathers his legs under him and jumps up, the dark and muted colors of his clothing and backpack grungy against the sterile white which surrounds us. The ceiling is a dome, with the frosted glass rectangles coming down only to end at a spot that is the height of a normal second-story ceiling. Below that are tall, narrow windows with ornate pillars in between. Across the trapdoor from us stands a tall set of double doors, which are also ornately engraved and the same white color as everything else. Beside me and El, and some potted plants which line the floor beneath the windows, the room is empty.

  Such lavishness, while people are suffering and dying. It doesn’t seem fair.

  El seems to notice the way my eyes study the room around us. “He has to keep up appearances. They’d be suspicious if he didn’t.”

  As if summoned by the mention, the doors bang open and I lift my head to see a man standing in the doorway. I immediately recognize him as an HA. No real human has eyes such a brilliant ice-blue that they are visible from across a large room. His head is completely hairless, giving him an androgynous and almost alien look. He wears a white suit and pants, which are complemented by black shoes and a handkerchief folded in his breast pocket. The fabric is an exact match for his blazing eyes.

  “El. Welcome.” As the mellow tenor rolls across the room, a Vacbot zooms around his feet and approaches us, chirping madly. I take a step back and it hums over the spot where the dust and dirt from our travels has marred the shining floor. I suppress a giggle at the way its strident objections change to a more contented buzz as the dirt disappears.

  The HA smiles tolerantly at the little robot, then gestures at us. “Come.” I look to El, who walks across the floor without a glance back.

  I sidestep to go around the vacbot, which follows after me and cleans the dust that falls from my shoes as I move. “Shoo!” When the little robot zips in front of me, it almost makes me trip.

  “Vinnie!” The HA calls out sternly, and the Vacbot chirps, then zooms off. The android smiles at me. “Sorry, he can be a little...opinionated.”

  When El reaches the HA, they shake hands cordially. I watch with my mouth open, dumbfounded by the actions of the man who holds so much hatred toward the Society.

  “Sorry I couldn’t tell you we were coming, Nate. We haven’t had power to charge the radios.”

  Nate’s face sobers, and neither man seems to notice my open-mouthed dumbfoundedness. “I understand. I’m very sorry.” The HA’s gaze shifts to me. “Is this…”

  “Alyss, yes.”

  “You are very welcome here, Alyss.”

  I can’t manage to do anything more than make a stiff nod. “Thanks.”

  Nate waves us through the door, into a hall filled with windows much like the room behind us. Is everything here as grand as a palace? I’ve never seen anything like it. “You both must be exhausted. I w
ill show you to your rooms.”

  “Thank you, but I want to get to work.”

  “Well, I must leave for my own job momentarily, and unfortunately, no one can be using the computers in my home while I’m gone. It might raise suspicion.”

  “Oh.” As Nate falls into step beside me, with El on my opposite side, an awkward silence falls over our small group.

  Through the tall windows on the left side of the hall stands the most gorgeous garden I’ve ever seen, either in real life or in videos. In the very center, a fountain bubbles and spurts water from a high, smaller concrete basin into the lower, larger one. Deep green vines cling to its sides, and red bricks surround it on the ground.In the background, trees nearly hide the stone wall which borders the garden, and in between the trunks are all different kinds of flowering and leafy shrubs.

  “Miss?” I haven’t realized I stopped to stare at the verdant masterpiece until Nate’s voice breaks into my thoughts. “Your rooms are this way.” When I look at him, he gives me a smile that seems full of compassion. Watching the nuances of his expressions and his flawlessly human manner, it’s hard to remind myself that he’s nothing more than a machine. There’s nothing human in him at all, despite the fact that he looks and acts like a flawless imitation of one.

  I allow Nate and El to lead me through the hallway, to a place where it splits into two more corridors which lead away to the left and right. An archway in front of us opens to a massive kitchen filled with gleaming silver appliances and floored in a dusty red stone.

  Nate takes us down the hall to the left, and soon blank tan walls are punctuated by wooden doors. He waves to a door, which stands slightly ajar. “Your rooms. El knows what to do if you need anything.” He folds his hands together and nods at us. “I will see you both when I return.” With that, he spins on his perfect, shiny heel and walks away. As his back recedes with the quiet squeak of rubber on white tile, I have the odd thought that maybe he’s somehow a human passing himself off as an android. Is that even possible?

  “Alyss.” El prods my arm. “You coming?”

  I tear my eyes away from the retreating form and follow El into one of the strangest rooms I’ve ever seen.

  As I gape at the room, I could swear I’ve stepped into another century...or another world. Thick, brown carpet covers the floor. In the corner to my right stands a large wooden cabinet that has a leather sofa and two overstuffed leather armchairs facing it. Nearly all the rest of the walls are covered with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, except for the spots where three other doors stand. Even there, shelves extend over the top of the doors and all the way to the ceiling. There’s two sofas and two armchairs grouped around a glass-topped table in the center of the room, on top of a rug that’s even fluffier than the carpet. The rich red and brown tones are the opposite of the white which dominates the other rooms.

  I step forward, trying to make sense of it all. El walks around to see my face, grinning the whole time. “Isn’t it magnificent?”

  “It’s...yeah.” I step to one of the shelves and run my fingers down the spines of some books. “I’ve only ever seen books once.”

  El’s shock is almost enough to make me laugh. “Once? How is that possible?”

  “In the Compound, everything is electronic. Screens and digital displays. Colorless...bland...boring.” I punctuate each word by touching a different book. The ancient spines feel like they’re made of rough fabric. On some, the ink is so faded I can’t read the titles.

  “Well, you’re in for a treat then.” I didn’t see El come up behind me, but now he reaches around me and pulls a book down from a shelf over my head. “You have no idea what information is out there. Stuff the Society never told you.” He’s standing only a few inches from me and my eyes lock on to his joyful face as he gestures to the rest of the room. “Stories, histories...poetry…”

  “The Society taught us history.” Why is he so close to me? The tips of our shoes are nearly touching.

  El shakes his head. “They taught you whatever served their purposes. Let me guess, it was pretty much all war and death.”

  “Yeah, because that’s how…”

  “Nope.”

  I look into his earnest eyes and the magnitude of his words dawns on me. Here, in this room, I have a chance to re-learn everything I thought I knew. I can have the answers to questions that have spent years burning inside my soul. I can fill my head with the information I was denied.

  I don’t realize how close El’s face is until I look back into his now-blazing eyes. “You’re so beautiful when you’re happy.” Before I realize what’s happening, his mouth descends until it meets mine.

  This kiss is so unfamiliar, yet so similar to our last. El didn’t just stumble out of a smoke cloud, but the fire which burns through me at his touch is the same. His hand, which still holds the book is pressing into my back, but I can barely feel the pain where the corners of the cover poke my skin.

  Strange sensations flood through me. There is a longing which demands to be closer, but also one which doesn’t like the way the feelings overwhelm my sense of reason. They are new feelings, yet somehow not new at all. Feelings as old as time, as ancient as the first humans to ever walk the planet, yet as new and confusing as everything else I never knew until I left the compound.

  He reaches up with his free hand and curls it around the back of my neck, his fingers fitting into the space between the top of my backpack and my skin as they entwine with the wisps of hair hanging down from my ponytail.

  I both wish desperately for him to stop kissing me, and also to beg him to never let me go.

  When he finally moves back, his eyes search my face as if he’s looking for an answer. I have no breath left to give him one, but I match his gaze and hold it.

  “Are you okay?”

  I nod, and bite the lip he so recently released. “What...what was that for?”

  He laughs, but it sounds strange. “Surely...surely you knew…” He releases me and steps back.

  “El…” I can sense I’ve somehow offended or disappointed him. “It’s just...I never met a man before I saw you...I don’t know how this, how any of this, is supposed to work. Please.” I grab his arm as I see him turning away. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

  He chuckles and reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m not mad. You might not believe this...but I’ve never done this before either.” Then his hand drops, and his demeanor changes. “We should get settled in. Through there is the bathroom, then the bedrooms.” As he speaks, he gestures at the doors in question.

  “You can pick whichever one you prefer. There’s a TV in there, but keep it off until Nate gets home. We have to avoid using anything that connects to the ‘net while he’s gone, since household androids don’t watch movies or get online. Once he’s home, you can do pretty much whatever you like. Thankfully, they don’t seem to care which screen the activity comes from or how much of it there is, they just get suspicious if someone’s accessing the ‘net from a supposedly empty house.”

  I nod along and try to pretend I understand everything he’s saying. None of it sounds horribly important, other than staying offline. That’s fine with me, I have no desire to ever be online again after my constant state of both connection and isolation in the Compound. As long as nobody’s monitoring my every word, my every breath, I’ll be happy.

  Well, as happy as one can be while the rest of their new community is either dying under a collapsed building, or huddled in the meager protection of an ancient railway tunnel.

  El offers me the chance to shower first, and I take it. Even if all it means is a chance to be alone with my thoughts for a while, that’s worth the guilt I’ll feel over having comfort while people I know are condemned to indefinite misery.

  I don’t know exactly what I expect to find when I step into the bathroom. Maybe an austere, sterile place like my bathroom in the Compound. I don’t know why I’d expect this, since so far I haven’t seen anything
else in this suite which would support such an idea.

  Whatever I thought I’d find, this isn’t it. The bathroom is more than twice the size of mine in the Compound. Directly across from the door is a tub so massive I could probably float in it. Next to it on one end is a glass-walled shower. On the other is a door that sits just far enough ajar that I can see the toilet. Everything is clad in shades of dusty red and shiny gold. Those are not two colors I’d ever imagine working together, but somehow they make sense here. Two near-identical piles of clean (if plain) clothing lay folded on the mottled red stone of the counter.

  A HA who likes color. A computer that cares about decoration. This world makes no sense to me.