by Gadi Migdal
Nola stopped in her tracks, stunned. To hear such treachery, and from the guard commander, was inconceivable. The members of the cluster lived only for the cluster. The very fact that the General could even think of an action inconsistent with the goals of the cluster was amazing in and of itself.
“What?” Nola asked.
The General also stopped and stood before her. She fixed both huge black eyes on Nola and raised her four hands in the air, “It is important for the whole that you remain alive.”
The whole? That was the word the cluster members used to call their species. Why would a human woman be important to the whole? Could it be that the General was trying to test her loyalty?
Nola felt a rage mixed with the sting of insult. After all her years of faithful service?
“I thank you, General, but I am a coordinator from the city and my fate is tied with the fate of my egg-layer. When her day comes, I will die along with her,” she transmitted in a stubborn voice.
“Your Honor, I do not doubt your loyalty, nor am I testing it. But I will do everything I can to save your life,” the General replied calmly.
“Why?” Nola demanded to know, then suddenly realized she was shouting. “Why am I important? I am just the coordinator of a small cluster,” she transmitted angrily.
“I don’t know, Your Honor, I just know that it is necessary. Your survival was agreed upon by the city council.”
Nola felt dizzy. She forced her eyes shut.
Everything was progressing too quickly. What did the council want with the coordinator of a small, peripheral cluster? Was it because of the farmers going wild and her loss of control over the cluster two years ago? Or maybe there was some other reason? Had she failed in her lack of connection with the she-slave? A frightening thought crossed her mind - was it possible that it was her fault that the she-slave was sick?
A stab of guilt passed through her. She recalled her arrival to the cluster. She remembered eagerly awaiting work with the egg-layer and the mental connection with the cluster leader. She recalled her dreams of a kindred spirit with whom she could share everything. She also remembered her disappointment when she discovered that the egg-layer did not communicate with her and would not share anything with Nola.
The egg-layer spent all of her time in the laying cell - laying the next generations. Nola managed the cluster alone, not speaking to the egg-layer even once.
She was 14 years old when she learned to accept the lack of communication. The disappointment and loneliness made Nola focus on her work and cease trying to understand the egg-layer. From that moment on, she began to think of the egg-layer as the “she-slave.”
Nola opened her eyes and looked at the general. “General, my life is bound to that of my egg-layer. My fate is tied to her fate. What reason could the city and the rest of the clusters have to keep me from my fate? Can you answer me that?” She demanded.
The general looked at her and again looked hesitant.
She heard a ringing in her head. Two hours had passed since she had ordered the examination of the affected plants, and the implant transmitted the automatic reminder to all the farmers. “We will continue our conversation another time, General, I have work to do now.” She didn’t hear the general’s answer, if there even was one. Millions of farmers transmitted their replies all at once; only a coordinator could manage such a volume of information. Nola plunged into her work, grateful for the routine and the option of avoiding thoughts concerning the cluster, the city and the general.
The girl was 11 years old, thin and dark, with long, curly hair. She looked excited and frightened. She walked slowly, surrounded by excited cluster girls, and waved tentatively. Nola remembered the feeling; she would have been happy to give the girl a hug and tell her that everything would be alright. That wouldn’t happen. Coordinators never met one another. That was the law.
The previous week had been full of work. The general kept pressing her to accept the demand of the group and the city, while the cluster threatened to come apart. With great difficulty, she held it together, despite the confusion caused by the she-slave dying. Ultimately, thanks to her talents and persistence, she managed to stabilize the cluster, while taking care of the gardens. The fertilizer production and distribution resumed their orderly function. The bodies of the males, who had died after mating with the new egg-layer, had already been evacuated to the compost pile on the bottom floor. The entire cluster was prepared for the exchange, and there was an atmosphere of festive tension amongst the cluster members; the excitement of impending change.
There was a strange quiet in Nola’s head, a sort she had not experienced in the last two decades. It had been more than two hours since she had received a report of any kind. All of the reports were directed to the new coordinator. Nola still remembered the feeling of astonishment that flooded her when she first felt the deluge of messages and realized how much information she would have to process. She smiled to herself, the new coordinator would manage - they always succeeded somehow.
The dying she-slave managed to pull herself to the big elevator and went out to greet the new egg-layer, but her death was near.
It would all be over soon. From afar, she could see the crowd beginning to surge in their direction and recalled the end of the previous egg-layer and coordinator, twenty-two years earlier. It would be quick and merciless.
For a moment she wondered if she had made the right choice and if, perhaps, she should give the general a different answer. But now it was too late to change her mind.
With a sudden hopefulness for change, she transmitted a greeting to the old egg-layer, apologizing if she had let her down in some way. As always - the egg-layer did not reply. Nola closed her eyes against the approaching crowd.
“It’s over,” the general informed her, and Nola opened her eyes. The egg-layer and the mannequin had been swallowed up by the crowd.
“Thank you, General,” she transmitted, trying to hide the shock in her voice. She shivered; they had not taken any pity on her. All of her years in the cluster were meaningless to the cluster women as they destroyed the mannequin made to look like her.
The general did not bother to answer. She turned and descended the makeshift hill where they stood. The general had the hill built especially for this purpose; Nola knew that it would be taken apart within a few hours and no trace of it would remain, the ring-shaped garden would return to being flat and smooth. They were about half a kilometer away from the entrance to the cluster. The hovercraft that would take her to the city was waiting below — hidden by the hill from the sight of the cluster girls.
A young man leaned against the driver’s side door. Nola tried to guess if this was someone she had met once. It was unlikely in a city of 450,000 inhabitants, and yet she knew that she would soon meet people that she had known in her previous life, people she had thought she would never see again. She would meet human beings again.
A sudden enthusiasm permeated through her. A new beginning.
Her heart beat with excitement; she was not dead. The clusters and the city wanted her alive. She smiled to herself, maybe the city council had unpleasant plans for her, but for now, she was still alive. She was alive and about to return to the city. For the first time in twenty-two years, she would meet humans face to face. For the first time in twenty-two years, she would see her parents.
The general stopped at the bottom of the hill, “Goodbye, Your Honor, good luck.” She turned and left without waiting for a reply from Nola.
“Thank you, General, good luck, to you too with the new egg-layer,” Nola transmitted to her retreating form. The general showed no sign of receiving her words.
Nola stood there, hesitantly. She uncomfortably pulled at the collar of the overall that the general made her wear, before meeting the council. The logic of clothing was clear to Nola, but twenty years of living in the cluster had accustomed her t
o the comfort that comes with the lack of clothes. She remembered very well that humans that did not go around naked.
Nola stood hesitatingly; she would have to speak with human beings sometime. Better not to postpone it longer than necessary. She walked decisively toward the hovercraft.
“Hi there, my name is Nola; I believe you have come to pick me up,” she said to the young man, her voice sounding strange and unnatural in her ears.
Chapter 2
Taige
The suit got stuck over his head again. Every time he put it on, it got stuck in the same place. Each time he had to wrestle with the suit to get it on. Taige wriggled angrily into it. He was irritated and cursed in a whisper, “Lousy suit! I should throw you in the trash.” He tried with all his might not to curse out loud. He knew that Elmer hated hearing him curse.
With a final, powerful kick, Taige squeezed into the suit. He felt the sensors cling to his body as the suit recognized him. Moist and pleasant air flowed around his head. He activated the suit’s motion controllers and entered the dome, where he walked straight to the living quarters. As usual.
Elmer was sleeping. As usual. The sleeping machine hovered over him. Elmer was nearly always sleeping. Sleeping and dreaming.
Taige suppressed a sudden urge to kick the sleeping man and spoke through the suit’s microphone. “Master Elmer, sorry to disturb you, Master Elmer, we have problems.”
The machine hummed gently, and the old man’s eyes opened with a dreamy slowness. He looked at Taige with bloodshot eyes, which cleared as the machine cleaned his blood. After about thirty seconds, he was lucid enough. “Hello, my little fingerling. I was in the middle of a marvelous dream. What was so urgent that you had to wake me?”
Taige held back the sense of insult. “Master Elmer, the pumps are not working in the lower cages. The crabs are sick.”
Elmer’s eyes cleared at once. He sat up and ordered, “Nellie, give me a status report on the system functioning in the lower crab cages.”
Taige shivered as the invisible voice replied, “Checking, Elmer.” Elmer had once explained to Taige that Nellie was a brain which was, in fact, artificial intelligence. Taige did not understand what that meant, but he knew that Nellie was brilliant and knew many things.
Nellie’s voice filled the room again. “I identify a concentration of algae chunks in the secondary distribution connection. It is causing a 28 percent reduction in pump efficiency in all of the lower cages. The cleaning robots are unable to enter the narrow entrance of the distribution connection. I recommend sending an octopus.”
Taige hurried to protest, “Master Elmer, I can send a small robot there; we really don’t need to bring an octopus.”
Elmer smiled. “Sorry fingerling, you heard Nellie. Send an octopus to perform the task, and don’t eat it. I know that dolphins think that octopi are a snack. Wake me only if there are problems.”
Taige stepped out of the dome and into the metal square opposite the cages. He angrily slipped out of the suit and cursed aloud, no longer bothering to whisper, “Shit. Ugh! Damn it. Why an octopus?”
A cute little robot could undoubtedly take care of it. He flapped the water hard with his tail and swam to the octopi quarters. The delicious mollusks swam between the rooms, winding their limbs around the pillars and changing colors quickly as they communicated with one another.
Just a little taste. That’s all he wanted.
“Hey, it’s Taige, Elmer’s pet dolphin,” cheered Newman as Taige entered.
Taige imagined his teeth closing on Newman’s soft, succulent flesh, the tasty little arms twisting and sliding down his throat. He knew that Elmer would be angry and tried to push the thoughts out of his mind.
“Hello, Newman. Master Elmer says that you must go and clean the pump connection in the lower cages.”
“And everything Elmer says, Taige scurries off to take care of — isn’t that right, fingerling?” asked the octopus leader, emphasizing the last word with a quick flicker of color through his body.
One quick head movement and no octopus would ever dare talk to him that way again. Ever.
No! Not good. That would deeply disappoint Master Elmer, he would tell Taige that he expected more from him.
Taige sighed. “Yes Newman, Taige does everything Master Elmer says. And you have to too.”
“You have to too,” Newman imitated him disparagingly. “And if I don’t, what will happen?”
“Master Elmer will be angry.”
“So what?” laughed Newman. “He sleeps all day, what can he do to me?”
A daring thought crossed Taige’s mind. “Well, Master Elmer told me that octopi are dolphin treats,” he grinned at Newman. “And if they don’t work, I’m allowed to eat them.”
Newman emitted a cry of terror and darted toward the brown wall behind him, camouflaging his color to that of the wall.
Taige turned and exited the octopi’s quarters. He left Newman dumbfounded and terrified, next to the brown wall. Taige was confused. Why had he lied? Elmer would not like that. Maybe he was somehow broken? He thought to himself. Perhaps he should get more shots?
Newman and a few other octopi passed quickly by him carrying flashlights and tools. They were going straight in the direction of the pump connections. Taige looked at them in surprise. He had never managed to make them do something without having to ask many times. What just happened?
Maybe Taige wasn’t broken? Maybe he had done something right? He swam to the surface to breathe and think. Something had changed but what was it?
Taige went back downstairs and watched the crabs recovering in the cage, the pumps having returned to function at full capacity, pouring in clean water, rich in oxygen.
Something strange was happening today; the octopi actually did what Taige told them. Everything worked fine. Elmer had said to wake him only if there was a problem, but Taige was not acting normally. Elmer had to hear that.
The suit was where he had left it, on the metal square opposite the air dome. Taige approached it hesitantly. Elmer would be angry if Taige woke him up. Elmer loved sleeping. He looked miserably at the suit and tried to decide what to do. Something in the suit’s appearance got his attention. He observed it with interest, realizing for the first time that it had the same shape as that of his body only with the addition of arms and legs; in fact, it looked like a large Taige with Elmer’s legs. He had never thought about it before. The back of the suit had a long, wide slit, which he had never noticed before either.
Interesting. The slit looked like it was intended for his dorsal fin. Taige came closer to the suit and looked it over carefully. It was no wonder that it got stuck every time he put it on. He had to aim his dorsal fin at the slit. Taige slipped into the suit, and this time tilted his body with great flexibility so that the dorsal fin would come through the slit. The suit closed around him smoothly and easily. That was so simple. Why had he struggled so much with it until now?
Taige stood before the dome in his suit and hesitated. Finally – since he was already wearing his suit and had come this far – he decided that it would be foolish not to go inside, even though Elmer did not like to be woken up for no reason. He walked straight into the side of the dome and entered the dome’s interior. The dome’s wall closed behind him as soon as he passed into it. The force fields sealed the sea out; not a single drop of water penetrated the dome.
Taige hesitated again. The dome’s lights came on suddenly. Taige lifted his head in panic towards the living quarters. There was no movement to be seen; it seemed that Elmer was still asleep. He had not caused the lights to come on, so he allowed himself to calm down and relax. Maybe it would be better for him leave and talk to Elmer another time. This wasn’t important enough.
“Taige, please address Master Elmer. He will speak with you now,” Nellie’s voice alarmed him. His mouth emitted a small yelp. He stayed still ano
ther moment, confused, and then walked towards the living quarters. Elmer was sitting upright in his bed. His eyes were completely clear, and a big smile lit up his face.
‘He isn’t angry,’ Taige thought happily.
“Taige!” Elmer smiled at him. “Did you want to talk to me about something?”
Taige looked at Elmer; he quickly realized that Newman had told him what Taige had done and that Elmer was angry at him.
“Master Elmer, apologies, but a filthy octopus didn’t want to do what you said, so Taige told him that Taige would eat him and that you permitted Taige to eat him,” he whimpered quickly.
Elmer appeared confused for a moment, and then a smile spread across his face.
“You lied to Newman and threatened him so that he would do his job? Wonderful!”
Taige looked at him suspiciously; complex words confused him. But it seemed that Elmer was really not angry with him. He even looked pleased.
“Taige, I have been waiting for this moment for six months now. I told Nellie to wake me the day that you managed to put on your suit without a hitch, and finally you succeeded. It seems that the effect of the induction for stimulating development was delayed. But from here on, your abilities will improve much faster.”
Taige looked at Elmer. He wasn’t angry. Taige was certain of that. But he still could not figure out what Elmer was saying.
The sleeping machine injected Elmer with something, and Taige shivered. He didn’t like injections. Elmer turned his legs towards the side of the bed and got out. Taige was surprised; Elmer never got out of bed. Elmer stretched and walked toward him.
He smiled at Taige, “Come fingerling, I want to show you something.”
Taige followed him. Elmer walked straight to the lab, and Taige stopped at the entrance.
“It’s alright Taige, starting today you are allowed to enter this room,” Elmer laughed.