Walled City (The Elabi Chronicles Book 1)

by Maressa Mortimer

  Chapter 23

  Before Gax knows it, it is Hexaday again. It doesn’t do much to cheer him up. Caecilia won’t be in the cooling down room, so she can’t tell him if they have stopped watching him. It also means Gax won’t need to go to work, so he has to stay home all day, and be monitored. Or go for a long walk and get followed and watched. He sighs, feeling lonely and bored. Then he remembers his payslip from yesterday, Fifday. That means he can go and get his new computer. Gax’s mood suddenly improves and he starts bustling about the house, trying to remember which computers they had and what the possibilities were.

  Gax walks to the city, giving a groan when he sees the queue at the city gates. The guards are wide awake again, checking every single person carefully. They look at Gax’s papers, the guard almost turning to check him in the system’s computer, but looking at the line, he shrugs and hands Gax his papers back. Gax feels relieved. He has no idea if the information that he is being watched is on file and whether it will come up. He tries not to walk too fast and seem too keen. People here don’t show much excitement and Gax needs to blend in a little. Not too much, of course, he won’t forget the old lady’s warning, but he doesn’t need to look completely out of place either. The streets are very crowded, but quiet. Some little groups can be seen going about together but even their conversation is hushed and there is no loud laughter.

  He is glad to get into the shop, making a b-line for the computers. He wonders how the intranet works and whether it’s possible to also use the world wide web. Does it use the standard search engines and how do you actually pay for the intranet? There doesn’t seem to be a phone line in the house, so does it still use a dial-up connection? If so, how does he get it installed? Never mind, the older guy will… Hang on, he won’t be here this week and he warned Gax about his younger colleague. Gax feels annoyed. If the whole thing is too complex it could be a whole week before he has internet. No Caecilia either, so he can’t find a way to meet up and ask her. Gax thinks about the books in the shop, wondering if there is a Technology section. He doesn’t remember one, but surely there has to be some book about intranet? A book about how to work computers like courses they do for the elderly. Maybe the Bibliotheca has something. So that will be his next stop, although that might not work if he buys the computer now. He looks at the huge screens, so big and bulky. How is he going to get that home?

  Gax walks up to the young shop assistant, the man’s face showing the same yellowish tint Gax has noticed on the other Mansit, the one in the Bibliotheca. The young man looks utterly bored with life and when Gax raises his chin, the man just about moves his up a fraction. “I have come to buy a new computer,” Gax starts, looking at the various models. The young man blinks, his way of acknowledging a customer. “Which models have the smaller, harder disks, please and how much internal memory do they have?” The young man turns a little, points at the computer quite a few desks away, and rattles off specifics, then he points at a second, and does the same, then another and a fourth. Then he looks back at Gax, as if expecting the next test question. Gax sighs very softly, this is getting more frustrating by the minute, but politely he asks for the one with the biggest memory. The man flicks his hand at the third computer mentioned and Gax dips his head politely. He walks up to the computer, assuming the young man will follow him to answer any other questions.

  Gax looks around the screen, the huge box underneath the desk, and the mouse attached by a lead. “How much…” he begins, then stops, for the young man is still standing where Gax left him. Gax is annoyed, and groans a bit louder this time. “Um…excuse me,” he says, not too harshly of course, but still the young man scowls and comes over, not in a rush at all. “How much is this particular one then?” Gax asks and the young man points with his chin at the note on the side of the huge screen. Gax feels his face warm up, duh! “I mean, does it come with any extras?” The young man shrugs. “What about um, intranet?” Gax manages to correct himself in time. The young man looks at him then, curiously, like you would at someone very unusual. Gax busies himself checking the mouse and finally gets his answer.

  “Intranet is everywhere in Elabi. It will be built in. This your first computer?” Gax nods, well, technically he has had a computer (a very long time ago, it seems), a laptop, two tablets and a couple of smartphones. But yes, here in Elabi, this is his first computer. “It will open on your details then,” the young man says, looking bored again. “You fill stuff in, it will give you stuff.” Gax looks at the bored youngster, and some of his annoyance fades away. Yes, the explanation given is the least inspiring one he has ever received in any shop, but the man does look unwell. That funny skin colour for example and the way everything on his body seems to droop as if he is elderly, rather than slightly younger than him. Would he be on the Nutialem List, Gax suddenly thinks, then concentrates as the young man intones, “…take it to the counter they’ll drop it off in two hours maximum.” He takes a small card from a stand next to the mouse and half-heartedly holds it out to Gax, who takes it and smiles at the young man.

  “Thanks,” he says, “I’ll do that. Thanks for your help as well.” Not much help, but still, at least he didn’t have to read all the descriptions himself to find out which has the largest internal memory, or harder type disks. The young man has also solved his intranet question, although he might still go to the Bibliotheca to have a very quick look. Gax is relieved that the computer will be delivered, as having to walk all the way home with the large computer and huge monitor would not have been much fun. He raises his chin at the man, who hardy bothers to respond. Gax takes the paper to the counter. The older woman there has the same droopy look, without the weird skin colour.

  “You a Consuete or Umbo,” she asks, not bothering to look at him. He tells her politely that he is a Consuete. She nods, bashes away at her own similar sized computer. “Fine, it’s set up. Name?” Gax tells her his name and away she bashes again, reminding him of the very old typewriters. The keyboard is obviously of good quality to survive that sort of treatment. The woman rattles off the address and Gax nods, although he feels a little horrified to know that the woman can type in his name and retrieve his address. He almost feels tempted to say, no, and give another address, just to keep his own house safe. “It will be one hour and 45 minutes before the computer will arrive at your house, as you live further out of the city.” She delivers a final few stabs to the keyboard, then just about lifts her chin at him. Dismissed. Gax swallows, raises his own chin, pulls his lips into a smile and walks out. Almost two hours, that should give him plenty of time to look in the Bibliotheca for books on the intranet. That is a disappointment though, as there is one thin book describing the way the intranet helps young people in school, how it benefits Elabi to have a closed circuit communication system, rather than one that cannot be monitored, leading to decisions contrary to society. It talks about how advanced their society is and how supportive and close-knit, only necessitating a few members of the trades board to get in touch with outsiders. It proves to them that their own protected intranet shows the wisdom and integrity of the Amplissimos.

  One last small paragraph, probably meant as an encouragement, says that the Amplissimos will always strive to do everything in their power to protect and encourage the people of Elabi. Gax shivers.

  He leaves the Bibliotheca, putting the book carefully back on the shelf, his hand frozen in place suddenly, when he realises that the person following him might want to check on that book. Or are they no longer following him? He leaves, trying to look relaxed and enjoying his day off. He is glad to get out of the heaving city, into the countryside, mulling over the information in the book. So they do have internet, used for trade only. If only he can get into that system, find the way through to the outside world. He isn’t sure how he can on his own computer, but presumably the intranet uses some rather advanced form of wifi, so who is to say that it isn’t connected to the world wide web automatically as well. They monitor activity online though, so
somehow he needs to get into his own email address and send it from there. On the other hand, he doesn’t want them to know his name, so maybe he ought to set up a completely new email address.

  Gax has lunch, then makes space for his new computer by moving some of the furniture around. The delivery men don’t bother raising their chin. They put the boxes down on his doormat, holding out an electronic pad for him to sign and they’re gone, Gax calling Thank you after them. He shuts the door and starts unpacking the computer, snorting at the fat leads and old fashioned plugins. It is a struggle to lug in the heavy computer and monitor. Why didn’t they have flat screens, he mutters. Plugging the monitor into the computer isn’t easy either and he is hot and bothered by the time he is ready to switch on. He snorts again as he hears the start up noises, sees the brown letters across the black screen. He stops laughing though when he realises it is not windows. An E with some dots, slash, arrow and little underscore appears, flashing, ready for him to type in the path. Seriously?

  Gax sits back, his mind doing overtime. All he knows is windows, but he remembers his dad joking about having to type in every command the first time he had to use the computer. The instructions had said, Press Enter, so his dad dutifully typed E-n-t-e-r, wrong. Again, E-n-t-e-r, wrong command still. Turned out, they meant the Enter button! Gax knows Enter stands for the enter button, but that is the only thing he does know about typing out the commands. It will end in ‘.exe’ of course, but that’s it! He assumes it will be on the main drive, which normally is called C drive. But is it, or why do they have E? Gax is feeling stressed and exhausted already and he hasn’t even started! He blinks as fast as the cursor.

  Gax stares at his black screen, then in desperation he types in ‘Help’, and pushes enter. He gasps as the black screen is covered in lists and lists of words and then leans forward eagerly, to see if any of the words will help him. It obviously gives him the overview of all the stuff you can type in and what reaction your computer will give you. Gax gets a bit more excited. Somewhere on this list there has to be a way to get to windows or pictures, or what not. Otherwise, why the mouse? So, at the end, where there is the E with little extras, he types in Windows. That doesn’t work, but the E is ready for him to try again. He types, Win, then hisses “Yesss,” as the black screen now contains a few brown pictograms.

  Gax breathes a sigh of relief. Fine, it’s brown on black, but it’s something he can click! Enthusiastically he clicks on the email box, and pulls a face when a registration document appears. He fills in the questions, clicks on the submit button, then waits. Within seconds a prompt appears, telling him his application is being looked at. He clicks OK, then another screen appears, telling him his application for entrance to the intranet was successful.

  Gax quickly writes down the details of his new email address. No password though, but maybe that will come once he sets up his email? He clicks the screen closed, then clicks email again. This time it opens, looking like a simplified email account, with a welcoming email. He reads it, pulling a face. It’s the rules and regulations. Private Attachment liaisons lead to damage of our society. No communication that will harm our society in any way, shape or form.

  Gax can feel the excitement growing, he just has to contact his team. For a moment he wonders how to set up another email account, but that option doesn’t seem available. He clicks out of email, to study the other pictures. A word processor, a tool box for settings, a timer, shaped like a clock, which is literally just a clock and a calculator. No world picture, so no internet, obviously. Gax leans back in his chair. How does he contact the team? He peeks up at the tiny camera, will they watch him? Are they monitoring computers all the time too? What will happen if he just tries to send a bland email, one that doesn’t contain anything inflammatory? If he simply sends an email to a normal Hotmail account, will it go through? Or should he try to…what? Hack or something? He groans, computer lessons only a vague memory and as hacking can go wrong, it might be safer to just try to send an email. Gax opens the email icon again, takes a deep breath, and writes, “Hi, today is Hexaday, will be back at work on Onesday.” Then, he types in Linu’s address, deletes it, and types his roommate’s address instead, just in case. Then he moves the mouse cursor over the send button. Click. The result is instant.

  Chapter 24

  The computer screen flashes on and off, suddenly the brown and black changes to very bright red letters. Gax’s first thought is, “So they do colour monitors after all,” then he just stares, horrified. The red letters tell him that he has now been banned from the intranet for the next moon. He will only be able to use the word processor. All his communications will be monitored and he will need to attend the lectures on Hexaday and Enday afternoons at the Town Hall. Then the screen turns black, with only the annoying letter E, the dots, slash, arrow and blinking underscore, taunting him to try again. He won’t though, for he knows they are watching him even more now. Gax slumps in his chair.

  After a few minutes he gets up, just to make himself a drink and think. “What do I do now, Lord?” He whispers softly into his mug. He has no way to contact his team. He hardly remembers the old style way of doing computers and only knows it from hearsay anyway. Hacking out of the intranet into the internet without them even realising he has done so is beyond him. So tomorrow he will have to attend some silly lecture in the Town Hall. Gax feels his stomach clenching, as having to attend compulsory lectures is not really blending in. The house suddenly feels too small, and Gax decides to go for a long walk, even though it is still pretty hot outside. He tries to stay in the shade as much as possible, but even so, his shirt is soon sticking to him. He wipes his upper lip with a hand that trembles only a tiny bit. Not that he is afraid of course.

  The lecture is soon after lunch, Yulra politely informs him just before lunch time the next Enday morning. “Thank you, Yulra,” he says, struggling to not say something rude. He doesn’t dare pull a face at his Automated Servant either, because of the camera. Gax feels tired of the whole operation. It all feels so slow and futile; a waste of resources. To have a full time operator out here, working in a shop, not being able to reach out to people and not connected to his team. Maybe they have misjudged this mission, perhaps it wasn’t the right thing to do after all. As he has no way of contacting his team, it is really up to Gax. And Gax knows what the team leader will say if he comes back now. The guy’s favourite word was Stickability and coming back from a mission after just about two weeks doesn’t particularly sound like the embodiment of stickability. Gax sighs, locking the house behind him. Knowing that he is being watched is an added burden.

  Will this intranet-fail be reported to Grabus? Will it have any other consequences? The Town Hall isn’t very busy. Great, he thinks, just what I need, sticking out like a sore thumb. He follows the arrows to the small lecture room, and chooses a seat a bit near the middle to the side. Not at the back, too much the naughty boy image. Not in the front, too eager and memorable and not really right in the middle, as you don’t want to be in the full line of sight. He settles in. At least the chairs are comfortable. Soon a lot of the seats are filled. Most people are looking anxious, some disinterested, a few are clearly Mansits. They are the only ones looking keen, Gax notices. Do they need to attend in order to up their status?

  A grating noise accompanies the huge screen coming down. The lights dim and the lecture starts with a warning, telling the people in the room that they will be monitored for training purposes and to judge the best way to help them in their journey to living a fulfilling life in Elabi. The lecture starts and Gax soon understands why they watch people. The guy’s monotone voice, and motionless stance is enough to send anyone off to sleep, especially someone like Gax who hasn’t slept too well lately. He rubs his neck, massages his temples, his veins standing out a little. He has been skirting around a headache attack for a while now and this lecture might just bring one on. The man drones on and on and Gax feels his eyelids sag, his vision double. He is determin
ed to stay awake though. Finally, after another warning about the abuse of non-face to face communication, the screen goes blank. The lights come back on and they are free to go. Gax raises his chin at the person next to him, managing to curb his relief just in time.

  The man hardly reacts and Gax starts walking out of the building, his relief dampened by reality. Why not greet somebody back? Gax walks home very slowly, via a longer route, just to be outside. Maybe he should walk to the river. It’s getting late in the afternoon though and it’s a long walk. Maybe next week, he decides. That night Gax has another early night, but also a restless one. Going to work, he is relieved to see the city quiet once more, the guards looking bored. Grabus just about raises his chin, Inritia hardly seems to notice him. Gax sighs, another day and another day tomorrow, nobody to talk to, nothing to look forward to, everything watched, monitored and noted. Not a single person is interested in why he is different. A few did ask, like the guard and Caecilia of course, then don’t take it any further. Not a single customer reacts to Gax, or answers his polite chin raise. So Gax just dusts, polishes and tidies up after the Mansit onslaught on the shop that seems to occur every weekend.

  He goes home, still tired, goes to the gymnasium, ending up physically tired as well as mentally drained. Caecilia is there, but she doesn’t look at him at all and leaves quite soon after he comes into the cooling down room. Gax walks home slowly, feeling exhausted, missing too many things to allow his mind to even go there. He crawls into bed, orders Yulra to play his favourite music for a bit. She complies of course, but Gax feels his throat hurt, for this isn’t his favourite music. It is here, in Elabi, but not at home. He won’t be able to hear his favourite music until he is back in Mataiox. He can’t even mention his favourite music, or sing it… “Thanks Yulra, that will do,” he says, the words scratching his throat, causing his eyes to go wet.