by S. L. Baum
“Oh?”
“Yes. Say goodbye to your little friend,” Aspen said dismissively.
“What? Ummm…” I looked at Thorn. No part of me wanted leave with Aspen and walk away from him.
“I’ll see you around, Blue. Remember, a headache is not so bad,” he winked, turned around, and walked away.
“Do you have a headache, Bluebell?” Aspen asked.
“A small one earlier. Nothing to worry about,” I assured her.
“I was watching you. You seemed quite thirsty a moment ago. Dehydration can do that… cause the headache,” she said pointing from the glass in my hand to my head.
“You were watching me?” I asked.
“Your father and I have been keeping track of you all evening. You are working the room fairly well. Just don’t let one person monopolize too much of your time and attention. It really isn’t the best idea.”
I knew exactly what she was trying to say, but I refused her any more than a mumbled “Umm-hmm” in response. I enjoyed Thorn’s company; I didn’t care much whether or not she thought it was the best idea. I planned to message him as soon as we returned home.
My father smiled widely as we approached him and held out his arm. “There’s my Bluebell. Are you enjoying the evening? Your grandfather is watching the video feed. He is expecting great things from the Lush Ambassador. You will make us proud, won’t you?”
“Yes, Father, I am enjoying the evening. Wait, what? There is a video feed?”
“Of course there is, dear girl. Many years ago, The Council started to video all public functions. It is for security reasons. That way The Council can have someone review the footage if needed,” he explained.
“Oh?”
Aspen placed her hand on my shoulder. “Bluebell, if the Citizens know that Concord is watching out for them they’ll feel more secure. Don’t you agree?”
“Um, yes, of course,” I answered. “A good Citizen knows that Concord always acts with the best of intentions.”
“Yes, Bluebell.” My father stared straight into my eyes. “Remember that.”
“Jackson, there were a few people that missed meeting our dear Bluebell earlier. I’m going to show her around again,” Aspen announced and took me by the arm once again.
“Of course. Enjoy,” my father smiled and stepped to the side as Aspen and I walked past.
Aspen ushered me from one group of people to another, making introductions, easily chatting about whatever topic they happened to be engaged in when we arrived. She was a master at working a room. Flitting around from one social function to another day-in and day-out seemed to have its advantages after all. She was the perfect Councilman’s wife and daughter. I probably should have taken mental notes, but then I had a stubborn streak when it came to Aspen. I really needed to get over it. I’m sure there was something I could learn from her.
As the Gala was winding down, the announcer took to the stage once again. He brought my friends and the two sets of brothers up to the microphone with him.
“I promised you a surprise at the end so we should let the countdown begin,” he boomed and a timer lit up on the wall screen behind them all. The blue letters and numbers read 3 Weeks, 6 Days, 20 Hours, 59 Minutes, 59 Seconds. “This is the time that remains for our lovely twins to rank these gentlemen beside them. The ranking system will show up on your tablets in just a few minutes, because all Citizens get a chance to help pick the best fit! The average of the Citizens’ scores, in addition to The Council’s scores, and of course Petunia and Petal’s scores, will be calculated. The winner wins the prize, and the loser will be required to return to their Concord at that time. May the best men win!”
As soon as he finished his sentence the numbers at the end of the timer started moving. The countdown had most definitely started.
Petals and Petunia looked at each other in shock.
My friends had approximately four weeks to find out which set of brothers would make the best match. Together, they were only allowed a one-third share of the input that would decide who they would be spending their lives with. I didn’t know what I’d do if I were faced with such a rushed decision. It was a daunting prospect.
***
That night, after the long and tedious task of carefully removing the gown, making sure that it was safely returned to its box, putting the heels away in their box, throwing my hair up into a pony-tail, and washing all the make-up off my face, I settled into my bed, fully intending to read myself to sleep. I reached for my personal tablet, which was waiting on the table next to my lamp, and as I grabbed for the tablet I noticed a flat rectangular lump, under my blanket and near the pillows I was leaning against. The lump turned out to be a metal box and inside the box was a tablet, there was a note attached to the front of it that simply read, Read me.
I switched the tablet on and when it came to life it wasn’t like any tablet I’d seen before. It didn’t have icons, and pages, and scrolling Concord messages. It just showed a list of files, simply labeled with the words - First, Second, Third, Fourth, and so on. Where did it come from? Who had put it in my bed? How did he or she even manage to get in our home? What were these numbered files all about? Why did someone want me to read them? The questions were twirling around in my head.
“Relax and take a deep breath,” I told myself in a whisper. “When beginning a mission, however small, or however large, one couldn’t hope to reach the end without taking that first step.”
I selected the file labeled: First.
The message Place your index finger in the center of the tablet, appeared on the screen. I placed my finger in the center and a solid green line swiped across the screen. Scan accepted.
You are the only person that can access this tablet. The previous message will never be shown again. You must place your index finger in the center of the tablet and only after it is scanned will it turn on and reveal the files. If someone else attempts a finger scan twice in a row, the tablet will become inaccessible.
You must keep this tablet hidden. We believe that it is untraceable and cannot be tracked back to us in any way, but Concord has very capable specialists. We never take anything for granted, and as an extra security measure, each page of the file may be read one time and one time only. You will not be able to scroll back, only forward. Once each page of this file has been seen, the file will delete itself. So read carefully and absorb the details. After this “First” file is read, access to the “Second” will be granted. And you must fully read the previous file to move on to the subsequent one.
We begin by saying: Life in Concord is a peaceful existence. As Citizens, we are well taken care of, as long as we Concur with Concord. But our children are stolen from us at the tender age of five; they are brainwashed and conditioned and exit Concord’s care twelve years later. We have knowingly, and for the most part willingly, let this happen. We accept it because we grew up being told that Concord knows best and we are not given a choice in the matter. Though it has not yet been announced, The Council now wants to start earlier. Next year they will be calling for all four year olds to be removed from their homes and turned over to Training Tech.
You may be asking yourself, ‘What is the harm?’ Or perhaps you may wonder, ‘Why doesn’t Concord just take the children much earlier?’ We’ll attempt to answer both of those questions now.
What is the harm? For several generations, Concord has been raising a race of autobots. We use the term autobot because Citizens are programmed to give automatic answers and act in a particular way. Drugs are administered during the first few years that we believe encourage the loss of early memories and make it easier for children to forget the love that was shown to them in their homes, by their parents, and learn to substitute it with ordered, sterile, conformity.
These “medicines” have also contributed to the need for our Citizen Brands. The drugs are powerful, they affect more than just the brain, they affect all of our functioning systems. Concord’s Doctors have been able
to create additional drugs to combat most of the side effects, but they haven’t figured out how to protect fertility. Yes, you read that correctly, all these medicines that Concord has created and forced upon its Citizens for so many years have also created our problems with infertility. So Concord decided to use infertility as a way to place Citizens in occupations that the higher-ranking officials have decided are undesirable. It is a way to keep the Citizens of Concord under their control.
But we also believe that certain individuals are chosen to be infertile. If a man or a woman behaves in a way that is opposite of what is expected, and does not adequately repent his or her non-conformist ways, then their child will bear the scars. Their child will emerge from Incorporation with an X for a brand and be placed in an “undesirable” occupation. Medicines will have been administered to that child at some point, in the guise of vitamin supplements or as a needed cure for a minor ailment, but in fact it was those medicines that caused infertility.
Selective infertility also helps to control the population of Concord. The Council likes to maintain a certain number of people within each Concord. If it becomes too high then they will restrict new growth.
The second point to be addressed is the age that a child enters Training Tech. There are several factors at play here. The cost effectiveness of keeping infants and toddlers in a nursery type setting is not very appealing to Concord. They have looked into what it would take to raise a child from infancy and discovered that they would need several more Guardians in place to care for these much younger children.
Another factor is that of a mother’s attachment to her child. When a child grows in the womb of his or her mother, a bond is formed. It is unmistakable, it is unbreakable, and Concord cannot find a way to condition a woman to disregard the connection. There are some cases in which the mother is easily detached from her child, but that happens with no real consistency and with such rarity that Concord’s scientists cannot identify a true cause. The majority of mothers are simply not willing to part with their children during infancy or the toddler years.
Through experiments, Concord has discovered that children actually develop better in a loving home setting. In those experiments, infants were forcibly removed and raised in a sterile environment, with minimal emotional involvement. As the children hit their formative years, they lacked certain developmental necessities and were found to have deficiencies in particular parts of the brain that allowed for sharing, acceptance, willingness to please, and pride in a job well done. These children were detached, scared, angry, and in some cases quite dangerous. These experiments were TERMINATED so they could not impact society.
But The Council has decided to move once again toward an earlier control of Concord’s youth. This time they will start in Concord Four, away from Concord’s main hub. Concord Four will be expected to have the first class of four-year-old students enrolled in Training Tech. If this class assimilates well and if the parents accept the turn over without too much resistance, The Council will extend the requirement to Concord Three, and then Two, and then One. The Council will continue to require children to be turned over at the age of four until someone decides that it is time to lower the age again.
Where is our heart, where is our passion, where is our love? Why do we blindly allow Concord to run our life, to decide our fate, to choose our occupation, and to take our children? Why? Does Concord really have its Citizens’ best interests at heart? All we ask is that you think about these things, consider what you’ve read, and continue to investigate our claims.
The “Second” file will not be accessible for eight hours. It is our wish that you would ask yourself these questions and examine the answers you come up with before moving on. Hide the tablet, do not carry it with you anywhere or show it to anyone. The Council tracks each Citizen’s every move.
And try to remember.
I stared at the blank screen in shock. The file was gone, as it had said it would be. A few seconds after I read the last word it just disappeared and then the tablet turned itself off. I needed to hide it. I couldn’t risk Aspen finding it, or even my father. I was the Lush Ambassador for Concord. It would be scandalous for it to be discovered in my home… especially since I was the descendant of the original twenty and the granddaughter (and daughter) of current Council members.
There were slanderous accusations in that tablet. There were vile claims. In truth, Concord did have a controlling hand, but the government needed to function that way. Citizens required guidance. They needed to be shown the path and set on it. Everybody knew that. How else could they be productive members of Concord?
I flung the tablet across the bed. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to be touching it. I didn’t want to be associated with it. I turned my head away from it.
My heart was racing.
There was a noise coming from my personal tablet and I looked over at it with horror. It was a video chat, I could tell from the tone. I couldn’t answer it. If I accepted a video chat then the other person, whoever it was, would see the contraband tablet just casually lying there on my bed.
I scurried to the edge of the bed where the tablet was taunting me and I snatched it up. I wasn’t sure where to hide it. Where would Aspen never want to look? Where would she never think to look? My father wasn’t a concern; he never came in my room. But Aspen did.
I slid the tablet between my bed frame and my mattress for the time being. I’d think about a better hiding place later. My tablet stopped beeping. The screen displayed a missed request for a video chat from Lily. I decided to message her in the morning and say that I had simply fallen into an exhausted sleep as soon as I’d returned home from the Gala. She’d believe that.
My mind replayed the whole file, from start to finish. I know why Concord really opened Training Tech. The trainers showed us pictures of what life was like many years ago. We saw photographs of children that were starving, so skinny that you could see the outline of each of their bones. We saw photographs of children that were grossly overweight, with so much fat under their skin that they looked rounded and puffy. The old government was forced to try to feed the underweight ones while bringing the overweight ones back to a healthy weight… all the while battling parents that refused to properly care for their children.
Normal, healthy, children hardly existed at all back then. There were a myriad of health problems that could come from an unhealthy weight, not to mention the numerous diseases that the Citizens of old had allowed to overtake their land. Children had pox on their faces, some had braces on their legs, while others were forced to spend their lives in a wheeled chair. Children died. No. It was better that Concord had a period of Great Restructuring and implemented the mandatory health care. Doctors started tracking each child born in Concord and made sure that the parents were properly taking care of them. They required each and every parent to participate in the government provided healthcare and it made things better.
There were no longer chromosome abnormalities, or dire issues with major organs. Occasionally an infant would die during childbirth, but childbirth is widely known to be a very tricky and wearisome procedure. Even a mother could die during childbirth; consequently Citizens were no longer encouraged to have more than two children. The fact that I was told I could have four of them scared me. That was four chances I could lose my life. It was rare, but it was still a possibility.
Since the Restructuring, Citizens just didn’t die from anything health related; childbearing was probably the only exception, but it wasn’t exactly a health condition. Citizens just grew old, and bodies eventually slowed to a stop. That is the natural process of things. If someone did die before they had a chance to reach a certain age, it was because there had been some sort of an accident. No government could prevent a person from falling from a great height, or being hit by a vehicle, or drowning in a body of water, or being electrocuted, or… well, accidents just happened.
And as far as lowering the age of entrance in
to Training Tech was concerned, I would have to say that The Council knows best. They must feel that they can start to teach Concord’s children at an earlier age. My brain didn’t want to even tackle that subject. It was so overworked that it was starting to shut down. In fact, I didn’t want to think about anything at all. I just wanted to sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Remembering
The woman is tugging at my hand. “Let’s hurry, dear heart. We must get to the beach in time.”
I am a small child. I must crane my neck to look up at her; she stands so tall next to me.
“Why are we going to the beach today?” I look up at her and ask. “You told Father that we were going to the park and then to lunch. I heard you.”
“I changed my mind, that’s all. I thought the beach would be much more fun. I know how much you love to play in the sand,” she smiles at me.
But her face doesn’t look happy… it looks worried.
I sigh. “We have been walking for a really, really long time.” We’ve never walked to the beach before. My legs start to hurt. I am tired.
“Bluebell, please try to keep up. We must get to the boat.”
I stop walking. “There’s a boat? We are going to a boat?”
She kneels down so she can look into my eyes. “I meant to say that we could see a boat. I heard that there might be one at the beach today. I bet if we’re lucky the Captain might even let us go aboard and walk around the boat. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
I nod my head, suddenly too tired to talk. I just want to sit for a while. But seeing a boat would be fun, so I start to move my legs again.
We walk some more; the woman is always beside me. She tells me a story about when she was a little girl, how much she loved to pick flowers, and then she talks about the beach again. She starts to look a little worried and I ask her what is wrong.