Eden's Root

by Rachel Fisher

  Fi, Asher, and Sean sat with their backs against the wall while the first shift showered. Kiara curled against Fi who stroked her hair, and Zoe snuggled into Kiara’s other side.

  “So what do you guys think comes after we get inside?” Sean asked. Fi nodded. She knew they had all thought about this.

  “Consideration, I would assume,” she said. Asher and Sean appeared pensive.

  “Do you think they go by the same Rules that we do?” Sean asked Fi, his voice worried. Yes, between Rachel and then John, who was not looking that great, Consideration was a real worry for Sean. It was Fi’s biggest worry too. Asher patted Sean’s hand in reassurance. Fi smiled and turned away, pretending not to notice the gesture. It was nice now that the boys got along. She sighed as she responded with reluctance.

  “I know for a fact that they have Rules like ours Sean,” she admitted.

  He grimaced. “But what about Rachel?”

  “I know we are in here now and that the Eden people are calling the shots, but I’m still the Leader of this Family and I promise you Sean, we won’t leave her behind. I have been thinking about the Eden Consideration for months.” Startled, Sean met Fi’s gaze. Her eyes were intense, almost black in the bright room. “Sean, I will get us all in,” she affirmed.

  Just then they heard a little cry of “Oh,” followed by a long sigh as a shower turned off. One after another, the stalls shut down and the occupants sighed, wishing it could last a little longer, but thankful nonetheless. John emerged first and all the children burst out laughing. The grey cotton scrub-type clothing they’d been provided obviously did not come in John-size. He smiled ruefully when he realized the laughter was caused by his predicament. He did a funny little twirl and they all laughed harder. Lucy emerged, her towel still wrapped around her head. She pointed to it, smiling.

  “Haven’t been able to twist my hair up inside a warm, clean towel in forever,” she moaned. “It just feels so good.” She hummed as she pulled it down and rubbed her clean hair. Rachel emerged next. Her grey scrubs hung from her frame and her bony clavicle jutted beneath the v-neck of the shirt, but her face was rosy. Her face widened into a true, relaxed smile, and she gave Lucy a gentle hug.

  “That was wonderful Mama, wasn’t it?” she breathed. Lucy’s face crumpled and reddened as she pulled away and gave Rachel a kiss.

  “Yes baby it was,” she agreed. “Alright you crew,” Lucy said. “Your turn.” The next shift jumped up, eager to hit the showers. Only Asher and Fi still waited.

  “Now we are the only disgusting pigs left in the room,” Fi joked with Asher as they waited on the floor.

  “Speak for yourself,” Asher said as he shifted position. His head lolled toward her and he grinned. “I always smell like rosebuds.”

  “Ach,” she protested, annoyed at the running gag, “Give me a break.” She shoved him sideways with her shoulder. Early on, Fi made some remark about Asher never sweating even when they trained in the heat. Of course, she said it in annoyance because she seemed to break out in a flop sweat just from a light jog, or being too close to the fire. It was un-ladylike, she thought, irritated. How come the boy in this situation is the sweat-free, sweet-smelling rosebud here? And so it had stuck. She sighed.

  “Trust me,” she smirked, “Only my love for you keeps me so close to your filthiness.” She grinned and he shoved her back. It was true. They were all filthy. They had been in the wilderness for months. Those cold baths at the house in the winter had been excruciating, but at least they’d gotten to take real, regular baths. Fi sighed and put her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. She couldn’t wait for her shower.

  Once the entire family was sanitized and refreshed, Louis returned to continue their tour. They were allowed to pass through the other hatch door into the true colony of Eden. Walking single file in the small tunnels, Fi felt like she had entered a maze.

  “And this, Louis emphasized, “is one of our main farming caverns or ‘pods’ as we tend to call them.” As they emerged from the dim tunnel, Fi gasped. They entered an enormous cavern with rivulets of milky water running down the walls into pools.

  It was clear that this cavern had been a natural creation. Stalactites and stalagmites formed pillars, arches, and bubbles that reached from floor to ceiling along the edges of the cavern. In the center of the space, the ground had been cleared and soil beds had been constructed. Vibrant, healthy green crops grew in plots that wheeled outward in a giant circle from the center point of the space. Figures at work walked and knelt among the fields.

  For a moment Louis was silent as he allowed Fi’s family to take in the magnificence of the scene. Fi realized that the reason she could see so clearly was due to the amazing daylight in the room. An opening in the ceiling led to a natural tunnel above the cavern. Louis would later explain that this tunnel split many times on its way to the surface. They had sealed it off and used mirrors to bring the light from the surface deep into the cavern. As the light bounced its way from mirror to mirror on its way down, it strengthened until it formed a single glittering blue shaft that shone onto the center of the fields. Like a spotlight, it glistened on the primary feature of the cavern, planted at the very center of the fields. Standing tall with its boughs bathed in light, a robust apple tree beckoned, the promise of health glowing within its deep green leaves.

  In addition to the natural daylight, the entire cavern was also illuminated by an array of halogen lights. The room was nearly as bright as any farmer’s fields on the surface and the sudden sense of sunlight made Fi feel lighter. A giggle bubbled up in her throat. She realized that she was a little giddy as they walked toward the fields along the metal catwalks suspended above the slippery rocks and streams.

  “Wow,” Fi breathed, “This is amazing. I love the apple tree in the center,” she teased. “I mean, really?” Louis almost looked chagrined.

  “I know, totally cliché right? Well it turns out that an apple a day really does help keep the doctor away. We knew this apple would flourish in these conditions and that whole fruit would help to sustain and heal Eden’s residents.” Louis grasped the metal railing of the catwalks surrounding the fields. “At the same time, it also shows you how un-seriously we took this at times. We resorted to inside jokes and clichés to help us pretend that we weren’t really preparing for, well…” his voice drifted off.

  “You mean the end of the world as we know it?” Fi joined him at the railing. “Yes, I can understand how you’d have to fool yourself somehow, to make light. My father told me the same thing. If it wasn’t a game in your minds, you couldn’t have done it. You couldn’t have made the hard choices.” Louis turned to Fi. Her eyes shone with compassion and loss as she spoke. He shook his head.

  “Well, you certainly haven’t had that luxury have you? You’ve never been able to pretend that hard choices are just part of a game. I’m sorry that we couldn’t reach you, that we couldn’t protect you. It all happened so fast. We lost your father and then...”

  “Everything fell apart,” Fi finished.

  “Yes.” Louis followed her gaze, “Everything fell apart.”

  The Final Consideration

  ----------- Fi -----------

  “Look guys,” Fi said. “At this point we’ve had a hot shower, a fresh change of clothes. Sorry John,” she chuckled at his ultra-tight scrubs, “and a decent sleep and meals. So if that is the worst we get out of it, that’s pretty good right?” Her tone was light and sarcastic, letting the Family know that she wasn’t worried. They waited in one of the school pods where the security personnel had led them after breakfast.

  Fi felt better being clean, but she had to admit that she felt less powerful in these silly scrubs. She hadn’t ever pictured herself making the Final Consideration arguments without her usual uniform of black top, cargoes, and hiking boots. At least she still had her elastic to keep her hair back. Being short and baby faced was already a disadvantage. Having a giant cloud of curls as well always seemed to prevent peop
le from taking her seriously. Everyone tensed as Gary strolled into the room.

  “Hello Family,” he greeted them. He’d taken to calling them that because they needed a single word to apply to her group and Family was the best choice. “It’s time to go,” he urged and they followed him out of the room in silence. As they walked, Fi tried to calm her nerves. She was glad to see that both John and Rachel seemed a little perkier today, their color better. Rachel had actually eaten almost a whole meal the previous night. They had to let her in, she thought, her mind racing with the arguments she’d prepared.

  They came to a new pod, one they hadn’t yet visited. As they entered, Fi could see that the pod that served as some kind of meeting room. It was almost a ‘judgment pod’ she thought. Several people were seated at a long table. Fi counted five. All sat on the same side of the table, facing the incoming Family as they filed through the door. Behind the table, the back wall of the pod was made of glass and looked out onto one of the brightly lit field pods, giving a sense of being outdoors that Fi found comforting. On the opposite side of the room were rows of chairs where the Family took their seats.

  The people seated behind the table included Louis and Gary, who took the sixth seat, as well as a short, dark-haired man, and a youngish man with salt-and-pepper hair who looked like he couldn’t be older than thirty-five. He sat in the middle. In addition, there was also a much older man with white hair and thick white eyebrows and a woman in her forties. The young man with the salt-and-pepper hair spoke first.

  “Welcome to you all. I would like to start by making introductions.” His voice was calm, but Fi could not read his face. “My name is Lawrence Waters, but you all may call me Larry,” he smiled. This guy can’t be an ogre, Fi thought, searching for hope. Would a ‘Larry’ send Rachel out into the cold to die, she wondered? He gestured to his right. “You already know Louis and Gary and to my left are three other important members of the Eden colony: Dr. Darryl Heil, Dr. Miles Coburn, and Georgina Ferrar on the end.” All three nodded when named. Larry turned his gaze to Fi.

  “Fi Kelly?” he said and she nodded. “Please stand.” Fi stood up and took a deep breath. “My understanding is that you will be doing the speaking for the group today?” This would be formal, Fi realized, just as she had expected. Fi nodded.

  “Yes, sir. I will be our spokesperson, but our Family has a democratic approach. When issues are tough, we vote.” It was an important clarification to Fi.

  “Duly noted,” Larry said. “To be fair to you all, we should be honest that we’ve never held any meeting of this exact type before.” Fi frowned in confusion. They’d never held a Consideration? Larry saw her face and nodded. “Of course we decided who got to come to Eden originally and who didn’t,” he said without emotion, ignoring the redness that came to Fi’s cheeks. Yes, she was very aware that they had made those decisions. Larry continued, “But since no Topsiders have ever discovered Eden, your Family will be the first for which we will have to make decisions while you’re present.”

  Fi in sucked air as he said this. It was a show of weakness, she thought. He was showing his cards. Her heart sped up as she thought about what this meant. They had never actually done this while looking someone in the eye! They had never looked a sick little girl in the eye and said ‘Sorry, but you’ve been selected for death’. There may be a first time for everything, but Fi suddenly doubted their will. Why would Larry tell her this, she wondered?

  Regardless, she knew she had the advantage. These people thought they’d made hard decisions. They had no idea what hard decisions were, she realized. They had actually just hidden here in their secret garden while the rest of the world burned. Taking a deep breath, she loosened the fists that had balled up at her sides. This Consideration was all hers.

  “Larry, it seems appropriate that I make the next round of introductions,” she began. Larry nodded and the group at the table sat back to learn more about the Family. Fi introduced them all by name, being sure to give an initial tidbit about what made each one special and wonderful. That part was so easy, she thought. She loved them all so deeply, so individually, that restricting herself at this stage to only one wonderful thing about each was difficult. After making the introductions, she turned back.

  “Now what?” she asked Larry. He turned and quietly discussed with the group at the table. Then he turned back to Fi.

  “Well we’ve already determined that you’re not a danger to the colony, were you to stay,” he began. “Gary vouched for you on that point,” he said nodding toward Gary who gave a polite little bow in Fi’s direction. Smiling, Fi bowed her own head. That was one vote of ‘yes’ to all of us, she thought with gratitude. “But beyond not being a risk, our colonists were all selected because they brought something useful to the table, something to justify their use of the resources. We have three hundred souls in our care here as well as the genetic future of our food supply, which is ironically, the genetic past.” For a moment, he seemed almost to joke with them, and then his demeanor returned to being serious. “So tell me Fi, what does your Family bring to the table?” This was familiar territory. She’d played this out in her mind many times.

  “Firstly,” she began, “I’m only going to talk about the adults. I assume I don’t have to have brought children with me who are useful, although they are,” she turned to smile at them with pride. Larry nodded to confirm.

  “Ok. Sean Skillman,” she began. “I start with him because I’m not sure how you ran this colony without him so far,” she said dramatically and Sean blushed. “At thirteen years old he was so advanced in computer science that he went to a special school for it,” she explained. “I’ve seen that you all still have functioning tablets here. And I assume some sort of ‘internal internet’,” she added. Larry looked surprised and glanced over at Gary, who nodded.

  “Yes, we do,” Larry said, stunned by her observations.

  “Well Sean should be on your team, developing applications, helping you to extend, expand, and repair the Internet. He’s a genius,” Fi finished. Sean bit his lips, trying not to beam at her. The woman named Georgina gave a firm nod, seemingly very interested in this information.

  “Asher Grey,” she continued and her heart stopped for a moment as she said his name. She wasn’t really worried that they would turn Asher away. She knew from Gary’s expression that he wanted Asher to stay. Still, the thought was there. And she wouldn’t go anywhere without him, she knew. Not now. “Asher is,” she began, when Gary interrupted her.

  “Asher is a warrior, likely more well-trained than anyone in our security squad,” he informed Larry, “including me,” he admitted. Fi smiled at Asher, who appeared embarrassed, his face red. Gary turned to talk directly to him. “I don’t know if fighting and training is where you would like to end up here,” he said, “but you would always have a place with me on my team or on the Seeks.”

  “What is a Seek?” Fi asked him with genuine curiosity. Gary turned to Larry for approval and then spoke when Larry nodded.

  “We do runs Topside which are partially to hunt game and partially to attempt reconnection with Others,” he said. “That is all I will explain for now, but it should be obvious that those who can hunt, navigate, or fight will be useful on seeks.”

  Fi narrowed her eyes, it sounded like Gary emphasized the words ‘hunt, navigate, and fight’, like he was trying to tell her exactly what skills she should highlight. He knew, because of the time he’d spent with them and the weapons he’d taken, that they had many members who could do those things.

  “Lucy Skillman,” Fi moved on. Lucy started to say, “I don’t” when Fi cut her off, giving her a firm stare. “Lucy thinks that she lacks skill, because in the old world she was a marketing executive. Not much call for that here,” she kidded and everyone at the table laughed. Fi could hear Lucy suck in, but she knew she’d set it up right. “But Lucy is actually an accomplished writer and makes an excellent English teacher. I assume you have school here?” The qu
estion was rhetorical. Louis already said that they had, and she’d seen quite a lot of children in the colony.

  “Aliyah Cooper,” she said next. “Aliyah was a trial attorney. It was her guidance that helped us to craft our own Family Rules, Food Laws, and Consideration process.” Fi could see interest on the face of both the white-haired man and Larry as she described the structure that ruled Fi’s Family. “Though your colony is small and new, people are people, and I assume that you have conflict at times?”

  “Of course,” Larry acknowledged.

  “Well, you will need people who understand how to create structure, how to create justice, and how to help foster a peaceful democracy. Aliyah is your woman,” Fi said.

  “Thank you Fi,” Aliyah murmured in her warm voice. Aldy looked up at his mother with pride shining in his eyes.

  “Dr. Ronald Cooper, or ‘Doc Ron’ as he’s become to us,” Fi chuckled. She turned to the group at the table. “He’s a doctor, a very successful former oncologist,” she stressed the last word. “Need I say more?” She knew that an oncologist would be very valuable. There had to be people in the colony who’ve faced Sickness, she thought. It was everywhere.

  “Lydia Fisher, our wonderful teacher of little ones,” she smiled. Lydia was one hundred percent schoolteacher. It was in her blood, in her nature to be patient and loving and creative. She’d really stretched herself to meet the needs of the older children, but little ones were attracted to her like the Pied Piper. “Lydia is a wonderful mother, as you can see,” Fi turned their attention to the cooing angel in Lydia’s arms. “And she is an excellent Elementary School teacher. It was what she did in the old world.”

  “Jose Gutierrez,” she continued and turned to smile at Jose when she heard a noise behind her. She turned and Larry had a strange look on his face.

  “I thought you were going to list the skills of the adults,” he said, his face confused.

  “Hey!” Jose called in protest and Fi shushed him with a laugh. She turned back to Larry and cocked her head.