The Cause

by Clint Stoker

  Fenton leaned over the table and took a good look at the documents. He dragged his finder across the page to follow the web. When he read the center, he paused, then read it again. The muscles in his faces seemed to go limp and he sat back in his chair. “I don’t believe it.”

  That struck Anna-Desi’s curiosity so she pulled the documents closer and read it for herself.

  “It’s over,” said Fields.

  “This can’t be authentic.” Anna-Desi inspected the pages closer.

  “It is.”

  Anna-Desi looked to Air, bewildered, expecting more explanation.

  “We’re supposed to be here. The Founder expected us to rebel and we’re rebelling exactly like he wants us to.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Fenton was so annoyed he almost laughed. “How could the city possibly benefit from a rebellion?” He pointed at the blueprint. “And the cause is right in the center of it all. What’s that supposed to mean?”

  The room was quiet for a moment.

  “So, what now?” Anna-Desi sunk back in her seat. “Are we supposed to just buy back into the program?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Rebelling is part of the program too. Either way we’re under control as far as the Founder is concerned,” said Air.

  Fields sat back, deep in thought.

  Anna-Desi tossed the documents back across the table. “There has to be something we can do.”

  Air nodded. “We can leave.”

  “Haven’t you read the documents?” Fenton snapped. “If you leave, the Founder gets what he wants.”

  “So, we both get what we want. At least when I’m gone, I won’t have to do any more of his dirty work.”

  “That’s real brave, Air!” Fenton hit his fist on the table. “You haven’t changed one bit.”

  “And you would know?”

  “Yeah, actually, I would. I remember you, Air. Before the city, you could have stopped the Founder, but you didn’t. You gave up and joined him. You took the easy way out and now you’re going to do it again.”

  “Do you really think you can fix the city?” Air stood up. “It can’t be fixed!”

  “What about everyone else?” Anna-Desi said. “They’re all trapped in this web too.”

  “Are they really trapped?” Air paced around the table. “Take a look outside. They’re celebrating. Everyone else is happy to be here. They don’t want to change anything.”

  “If they knew better they wouldn’t be so happy.”

  “Sure they would. Don’t pretend they’re innocent. They chose to be here. Just because they’ve forgotten it all doesn’t mean they aren’t the same people. They aren’t innocent.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “They all feel guilty for a reason. They’re acting like they feel fine, but they don’t. And the only reason they aren’t doing something about it is because they all want the rebirth. Nobody wants to die.” Air folded his arms. He didn’t want to say any more. He had made his point.

  Fields stayed in his seat, thinking. He seemed to be in another place altogether. Anna-Desi had run out of arguments.

  “Ben and Dharmesh died,” said Fenton, “What about them?”

  “They aren’t the exception.” Air paused to calm himself. “My father died, so did my mother and my…” Air didn’t need to explain anymore.

  “If you leave the city,” Fenton started, “You’ll die sooner than you think.”

  “That’s fine with me.” Air felt alright for saying so. “If that’s the only reason you aren’t leaving too, it won’t be a problem. I have a friend who says he can take the rebirth with us.”

  “I don’t care about the rebirth,” Fenton spat, “I’m not afraid of dying gradually, like Fields and Elena, but starving to death in the wilderness is another thing entirely.”

  “I can manage.”

  “You can’t! There isn’t any food. The city takes everything.”

  “The tribes-people seem to get along just fine.”

  “Fables,” said Fenton, “They’re going extinct.” Fenton’s voice trembled.

  “What do you know about the tribes-people?” Air said.

  “That’s my job.”

  “You starve them?”

  Fenton rolled his head around like talking about his job was a literal pain in his neck. “I’m a supplier. The city needs to take in a lot of food.”

  Air glanced down at the blueprint and found the circle for suppliers. It was a much larger circle and had several more lines of description.

  “I have to leave. There isn’t any other option,” said Air.

  “There is another option.” Ganton appeared at the top of the stairway. He had been listening to the entire debate. “It’s a machine, right? Let’s break it.”

  Nobody had anything to say to his proposal.

  “Air’s right. It can’t be fixed and, yes, everyone in the city is guilty. So let’s break it. We don’t need their permission.”

  Fenton cleared his throat and assumed a respectful tone. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Ganton.”

  “I spend every day of my life wishing I hadn’t come to this city. I followed you, Air. I believed every word you spoke against the rise of the city. I fought under your command. I left my aging parents alone to follow you into war. When I came home, the house had been burned to the ground but I didn’t regret following you. When you joined the city, I followed, but now I regret it.”

  It sounded like a noble thing to do, but death weighed on their minds. Destroying the city would get them all killed.

  Anna-Desi broke the silence again with the question they had all been too afraid to ask. “Is Hell real? I mean, does Hell exist after you die?”

  Fields smiled and nodded. “I’ve been dying for several years now. It’s hard not to think about Hell when preparing for death.”

  “And?”

  “If Heaven and Hell do exist, we are certainly going to Hell.”

  That shut them all up. They knew Fields was right.

  Anna-Desi broke the silence one last time. “I’ll help you break it, Ganton. And we’ll all go to Hell together.”

  “How do we break it?” Fenton seemed satisfied.

  Fields leaned forward and pointed at a circle on the blueprint. “The rebirth,” he said, “If we stop the rebirth, we break the city.”

  Faces of the men Air killed ran though his mind. The faces of the men he led into battle to fight for his ideals. He could see their faces. He was already living in Hell. The city was Hell. Air couldn’t add more faces to his memory. No more killing. He turned and walked away from the council.

  “Where are you going?” Fenton snarled.

  “A lot of people are going to die. I can’t do it.”

  “It’s just like you.”

  Air turned back to look at them. He pulled the celebration mask over his face and opened the library door.

  “I’m leaving.”

  Article 6

  Every fifty years city residents will notice a mild breakdown of their bodies. This is due to the return of the human condition. In order to combat the returning condition, a city-wide rebirth will take place. Each rebirth will provide the means for the following rebirth. The chain is never to be broken. Residents who fail to take place in the rebirth will become casualties of the human condition.

  - The Founder

  Chapter 19

  On the day of the rebirth, Air waited in the purging office. There was a different feeling in the air on the rebirth. It felt that way for every rebirth. It was like everyone knew they were cheating death. They fretted over it until anxiety took all their attention. Though nobody talked about it, they all wondered when death would come to collect stolen time. Air’s body tensed up. What would millions of residents do if they find out the rebirth isn’t going to work?

  “I’m glad the rebirth is today.” Mist sat at her desk inspecting her cuticles.

  Air lingered in the office, too anxious himself but for different reasons. “
You aren’t feeling well?”

  “I just feel so... blah right now. I felt this way last rebirth too. It’s not that I am having any physical problems, I just feel gross in general. How about you, Air?”

  “I feel the same as you.”

  “Weird, huh?”

  “When is your procedure scheduled?” Air settled into the leather upholstered chair across the room. There was so much going through his mind but all he could do was kill time.

  “Mine isn’t scheduled until four AM,” She sighed. “Sometimes I wonder how they come up with these schedules.”

  “Have they called the Five down to the hospital yet?”

  “They did about twenty-minutes ago.” She nodded at the screen hanging in the corner. “Don’t you need to be in the cleaning basement along with everyone else?”

  “No, Dex doesn’t want me cleaning yet.”

  “Quiet day for you then, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Maybe we should have an early celebration today. Nobody will miss us.”

  “That sounds nice.” Air looked forward to the day when he wouldn’t have to lie anymore.

  The media looped pre-recorded interviews of the Five. One woman complained about the pains of being chosen. She showed off her bulbous stomach and then disappeared through the hospital doors. The media showed a video montage of rebirth history. It was inaccurate, even with Air’s limited memory he could see the faults in the reporting. The only facts he could confirm were the physical benefits of the rebirth, the elimination of death, fatigue, sickness and aging. The city genuinely sounded like a shining contrast from the dying world in his memories until they mentioned overcoming guilt. Guilt still existed. People didn’t feel anxious on rebirth day just because of excitement. They felt guilty.

  Air jolted back as the door flung open and crashed against the arm of his chair. Dex walked in with his usual drama except, this time, his face told a different story. He turned and pointed at Air.

  “I need you in the cleaning basement immediately,” He almost looked scared.

  “What happened?”

  “A cable broke.” Dex’s frown seemed authentic. “Helix is dead.”

  “Dead?” Air stood up fast.

  “Napal is in the basement ready for the first shift. I need you to replace Helix as Napal’s partner.”

  Air looked on in disbelief.

  “Get down there, now!”

  “Yes, sir.” Air slipped by Dex and out the door.

  He followed the hallway back to the elevator. Zeke and Indigo stood gawking at the elevator door like it was a tomb. Air pushed the button on the wall and the doors glided open. The elevator shaft was empty.

  “How am I supposed to get down?” Air asked.

  “Andre should be back here any minute with a harness and a pulley.” Zeke seemed shaken.

  “What happened exactly?”

  “Helix was in the elevator and the cable gave out.”

  “Wasn’t Napal in the elevator too?” Air looked down the dark shaft. His chest fluttered at the thought of falling such a long way.

  “Napal is alright. He went down first.” Zeke folded his arms and grunted. “It doesn’t make any sense. We worked on this elevator for hours. Everything was working just fine.”

  Andre curved around the corner wheeling a large powered spool of half-inch steel cable. He seated it firmly at the mouth of the elevator and extended two heavy steal arms on both sides. The arms rested against the elevator door frame. Angling out from the spool, a pulley hung over the vacant shaft.

  “You’re going to lower me down with that?” Air’s mouth seemed to dry-up.

  “I’m not excited about this either.” Andre slipped the end of the cable in place. “I’m on the second shift.” Andre pushed the green button on the control box. A few feet of cable unraveled and he reached out for the end.

  Zeke nudged a thick climbing harness at Air. “Put this on.”

  Air held it out and inspected it. When he understood how it was supposed to fit, he stepped through a pair of straps and buckled it around his waist. His pants bunched as he pulled the straps around his thighs for a snug fit.

  “Is this going to hold?” Air asked.

  “We’ll find out.” Andre patted Air on the shoulder and latched the cable to a loop on the front of the harness.

  Air stepped over the right arm stabilizing the spool. Straddling the arm, he looked down to see only darkness. He held the rubber-handled steel grip just beneath the pulley and lowered himself into the void. “Take it easy,” Air reminded them.

  “We’ll take it slow.” Zeke nodded. “You’ll be fine.”

  Air extended his arms to allow the harness to take his weight. The cable pulled taught on his harness and he took one last deep breath before he let go of the grip and dangled helplessly from the pulley. Andre pressed the green button and Air descended down the shaft. He walked backward down the wall to maintain control of his position. The pulley squeaked in a rhythm overhead. Climbing down the shaft somehow reminded him of his wife. Maybe it was the darkness. He could remember how dark it was when she died. He remembered the cold. He remembered almost everything except her face and her name. She was a stranger, but he seemed to take every opportunity to think about her.

  “Is everything alright down there?” Andre called from the lit square at the top of the elevator. His head peering over the edge as if stealing a glimpse into purgatory.

  “I’m fine.” Air’s reply echoed off the walls.

  The light reflected off the steel framing and the cable above. When he looked down to see his footing, everything was black. After a few minutes of looking hard, his eyes adjusted to the dimness just enough to see his shoes stepping against an imaginable stone surface. His mind raced. Helix was dead. Was it part of Napal’s plan? A sobering feeling struck Air.

  Air stepped back but nothing was there to stand against. He swung through an opening in the wall. The cable pinched his fingers against the top corner of the opening and Air let out a sharp yell. He flailed in open air for a moment then caught the wall again. The purging floor came faster than he expected. The stale hint of blood and dust triggered his gag reflex. He continued down the shaft until he reached the elevator. The box sat, warped and smashed, in the bottom of the shaft. Air smoothed his palm over the top of the elevator. He felt a latch and flipped it open. Weak light came up through the trap-door. Speckled blood and matter glinted wet from the walls and floor. The remnants of Helix. He would be remembered only by the stain he left.

  “Napal?” Air called down into the cleaning floor.

  “Come on.” Napal’s shoes scuffled on concrete as he avoided standing in Helix. He leaned into the shaft just enough for Air to see his unbridled smile.

  Air removed the harness and lowered himself into the elevator box. He pushed off the wall to avoid landing on the mess. His effort became vain as his shoes splashed in a shallow red puddle he had not seen.

  “Tell me this wasn’t your idea.” The continents of Air’s stomach threatened to come up. He looked around in the darkness to grasp his surroundings.

  “You mean the elevator? I had to get Dex to send you down somehow.” Napal turned to a heavy rusted door.

  A single light bulb hung from the stone ceiling. The room was small. The door moaned as Napal pushed it open.

  “That’s it?” Air hissed. “You killed Helix and you feel good about it?”

  “Should I feel guilty?” Napal tossed his hands up.

  “Yeah, maybe you should.”

  Napal shook his head and ducked into the darkened doorway. A light flickered on with a click from the pull-chain. An eerie chorus of wailing forced Air to stop. The foreign cries sounded high and raspy. There was something familiar, but Air couldn’t grasp the memory. It was too vague.

  “What is that?” Air whispered.

  “That’s the rebirth.” Napal waved. “Come on, Air. You’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  Air ste
pped with caution through the doorway. The room was larger like the purging floor except there was a large sink off to one side. Napal stood next to a flat-topped cart from where the crying originated. Air walked half the distance then stopped. A tiny limb waved from the cart. The realization and the memory came all at once. Newborns. Air walked closer and saw all five babies covered in pinkish slime. They squirmed and reeled on the table. Thick blood and amniotic fluid coated the top of the cart.

  “Pretty freaky huh? Usually the first shift makes an incision and head back upstairs…”

  “An incision? You’re going to cut them?”

  “I know. It’s stupid. It’s just more bureaucracy, like purging. We cut these little slugs then go up stairs. By the time the second shift get’s down here, there dead. The second shift does their part. The third shift takes the leftover pieces and sends them through that tunnel.” Napal pointed into the darkness. “It’s just so nobody feels guilty about it.” Napal pointed across the expanse to a roughly carved tunnel. “It leads to the hospital.”

  “We can’t do this.” Air gawked at the infants.

  “We have to. Do you understand how it works? The pieces go to the hospital and the doctors use them to perform the procedure.”

  “No, we can’t do this.” Nausea boiled in Air’s stomach.

  “Nobody else will know what happened until we’re already gone. We can take care of all three shifts right now and make it out through the tunnel.”

  “We can’t kill them,” Air snapped, “They’re babies.”

  “Come on, Air. You never cared before.”

  “How could I care? I didn’t know about it.”

  “Do I look stupid to you? Don’t tell me you never connected the dots. It’s obvious. What did you think the Five were for? Everyone knows, they just act like they don’t.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not going to kill them!”

  “Well we can’t go on living without it! If we don’t do this, we’ll die. Is that what you want?” Napal stooped down and lifted a knife up from the bottom shelf of the cart.

  “Wait, Napal, let’s talk about our options.”