But Eve knew neither she nor Dirk could afford a separate home. Their families were poor, and it seemed neither of their new job assignments was in the upper level pay chit class. They would each probably be getting only the low- or mid-level daily worker chits. Dirk and Eve had not decided whose house they would live in, but Eve’s mother had already suggested the back storage room on the first floor could be cleaned out. It was big, had a separate entrance and one window, a small and mostly functional toilet and wash basin, and could be nice once they’d cleaned out all the discarded pieces of fabric and broken looms. Plus their home was close to Dirk’s, so he could still help his own family with their blacksmith business. Eve’s mother collected the dishes, and then spoke after several minutes.
“Have you wrapped your gifts for the Atonement Festival yet, Eve? You know it starts tomorrow at night dome.” She referred to the yearly festival when they all gave gifts to anyone they had offended, and then asked for their pardon. It kept their city more peaceful. But Eve and Dirk thought it had started in order to smooth over the bad feelings of losing someone to the recycle. Her mother, luckily, was still young, and at any rate was exempt because she had to raise Eve and her brother James, after their father died. Eve still got a clutch in her stomach when she thought of him; she missed her father horribly every single day.
“I forgot all about it. I don’t have anything to give. But I don’t think I’ve offended anyone this last year,” Eve mumbled. She reached over to pour more mint tea into her metal cup.
“What about me? You tease me every day. Don’t I gift an Atonement Festival gift?” her brother asked, whining. He looked over at his big sister, his blue eyes wide with hopeful expectation. She had to admit she did tease her little brother all the time. And sometimes she tickled him until he begged her to stop.
“You’re right. You should get an atonement gift from me because I tickle you horribly. But I haven’t had time to purchase anything from the shops and they’re closed now,” Eve said, messing up his short, dark brown hair. She looked around the main room, then the one she shared with her mother, finally remembering her prized jumping rope. It was a nice, hemp-woven rope she’d won at the jumping contest four years prior.
“You can have my jumping rope, James,” she said, handing him the rare prize. His eyes grew huge with excitement. “Do you forgive me for teasing you?” she asked, laughing. Eve knew from his look he was already thinking of running out into the street to practice with his friends.
“Finish your school work first, and help clean up, James. Take your dishes to the tub, please,” her mother ordered. James marched off from the table holding the rope tightly, while loudly singing some Level 2 school song.
“So do you think my job is something unusual then, Ma?” Eve asked, once James had left. “I think your job may be out of necessity, Eve. We are running out of everything, and I believe The Committee is desperate for new ideas. You did write that senior essay on the subject, so maybe you’ve been brought to their attention as someone who could be helpful,” her mother said, while standing to stack the dishes into the carrier tub.
“Dirk says we are running out of everything and that The Committee has no idea what to do. He also told me someone tried to break into the Boardroom Building again last week and was shocked to death on the door. Dirk says the place is protected by high danger electrics…enough to kill you if you try to get inside,” Eve said. “Yes, it has always been protected from entry, Eve. So don’t you dare try to get inside!” Her mother looked worried because she knew her daughter did love danger.
“Do you know what’s inside, Mother? Are there more food supplies or light bulbs hidden inside?” Eve asked as she stood up, and got ready to take the dirty dishes to the corner water-washing station. Eve knew that a long time ago each apartment had water that came right out of the pipe thing that hung over the sink. She thought she could remember that time once, from when she was very young. But now, Eve or her mother washed the dishes at the corner station, and went to the city bath house twice a week to bathe.
“There’ve been rumors, Eve. But no one has been inside to my knowledge, not ever, not even the members of The Committee. And if anyone would know how to get inside the Boardroom Building, the Head of The Committee, Mr. Miggly, would know. He has the original sacred Book of Rules. And some say he can actually read from it, though I would have to see that to believe it. He’s not such a smart man, you know. Plus it is written in some ancient old-speak language.”
Eve smiled at her mother’s comment, thinking she was probably referring to it being written in cursive, something she and Dirk had learned as a secret language when they were at Level 6 back in school. They had borrowed a book describing cursive during one of their back door archive adventures. She smiled, remembering several of those late night escapades. One involved using Dirk’s lock-pick set to gain access to the back door that led up to the steam clock works. They’d reset the town clock forward ten minutes. It caused quite a ruckus, so they were happy no one discovered who had done it.
Eve lifted the pan of dishes and walked carefully down the steps. She then went to the corner, balancing her metal pan of dirty dishes on one hip. She loved the time of day right after the dark-time meal. The light blue sky on the dome slowly turned from blue, to shades of orange and pink, and then to black dark, with those twinkling star things. As Eve walked to the corner, she wondered why The Committee had decided to have those colors appear on the dome. She knew Dirk thought they mimicked the colors of that original place…their original home.
She continued to walk along, noting the election posters stuck to the walls. It was time to elect a new Head of the Committee and Henry Darpen was the town’s favorite. Eve had overheard several adult voters saying they would be glad when Mr. Miggly stepped down because he had remained for too long in his position, and had become somewhat uppity.
Eve reached her destination in three minutes. All the younger citizens congregated at the same place and time to clean their dishes in the communal water basins on each main corner, exchanging gossip and teasing each other. Eve often took way too long cleaning the dishes, so her mother would already have warmed the wash basin water for their evening rinse bath before their sleep time. That night she could see her little brother James in front of their home practicing with his new jumping rope, while his other six-year-old friends stood in a circle admiring it, waiting to see if he would give them a turn.
She glanced up at the still-blue sky, remembering the dark spots she and Dirk had seen from higher up on the metal parts of the old tall buildings. Then she glanced back down to spot Bream approaching with her own dirty dishes. “So you got the Bakery Worker job assignment, Bream. I know it’s what you wanted. Be sure to sneak me some honey cakes,” Eve told her friend, punching her lightly in the arm. Bream was already slightly overweight from her love of bakery foods. She stood over Eve for a moment to brush her frizzy black hair back from her dark brown face. Then they both bent over the water basin and cleaned their family dishes once it was their turn at the basin.
Bream finally answered, “Yes, I’m so glad. I love the smell at the bakery. And you know we get the stale loaves, so will always have bread soup. Mother was so happy. We’d been short on food rations lately.” She reached over Eve to crank the water drive. The water came out a large metal pipe that was fed from the underground water supply. After use, the dirty water ran through a central drain pipe under each street, was collected, and went into a recycle vat where the Recycle Workers skimmed off the scum to use as fertilizer in the greenhouses.
Then, the water passed through the rock sand, and through some coal-lined pipes. It finally went to the Water Works where it was further cleaned up for drinking water, using more rock and coal. Someone once told Eve they lost about twenty percent of the water at each recycle, but that they got some back from a magical and almost broken water-making machine, also down in the bee-low with the other machines in Steam Works. Eve thought maybe she wo
uld also get to see the water-making machines once she started her job as a Steam Machine Worker. Bream interrupted Eve’s thoughts.
“So what will you be doing in that new job…it’s a Steam Machine Worker, right?” Bream asked. She rinsed her dishes and began to stack them into her own pan. “I have no idea what I’ll do. The assignment is supposed to be explained to me tomorrow,” Eve answered.
“Well, at least we didn’t get our partnering changed. I mean, I am happy for Rene, but I was starting to worry when Principal Stack said that changes were being made,” Bream went on, while rinsing her spoons. The next person in line complained he was in a hurry and could they please move along faster and stop gossiping. Bream and Eve rolled their eyes and went on.
“Right, that would have been awful. I would hate it if they changed my pairing with Dirk,” Eve replied. She hurried with her own dishes so the guy behind them would not become even more irritated with them. He kept clearing his throat and juggling his dish pan, like he had someplace more important to be. Eve almost started to laugh at that idea…that someone actually had someplace to go to other than their city.
“I know what you mean. It took me forever to get used to my mate,” Bream responded. She had been paired with a lanky, pale, blond boy from the other side of town. She had never met him before, so it had taken her quite some time to make friends with him, especially because he had favored someone else. But the young people didn’t get a choice…not when genetics ruled the decisions of The Committee. Eveknew that.
Bream went on, “But what about you…you have some mysterious new job assignment. Everyone is talking about it, Eve. They say you’ve been selected to go down to the bee-low and fix the steam machines…or maybe even to figure out how to get inside the Boardroom Building to find replacements for the light bulbs.” She moved her pan of soapy dishes to the rinse area, and Eve followed, allowing the impatient guy behind them to get his chores done.
“Wouldn’t that be exciting…if you didn’t get that shock from the door, of course? Maybe you can find some replacements for us,” Bream finished. They each stacked their clean dishes into their pans, stood at the same time, and got ready to turn back to their respective homes before dark time arrived and it became more difficult to balance a pan of dishes without tripping on something.
Eve knew Bream was a single child, who still had two live parents, even after that last winter fever that went through two years ago and killed forty-seven people. It was especially awful on the babies. Eve cried for days about that. Everyone did. Babies were their future. But it did result in the issuance of additional birthing vouchers to some couples on the long wait list.
As she turned to leave, Eve answered Bream, “I’m not so sure finding replacements is part of the Steam Machine Worker job, Bream. That sounds more like something Dirk might do. He got the other new job assignment…Lower Level Supply Assessor. What do you suppose that means? Do you suppose they found more supply bunkers in the bee-low?”
“That would be so honey sweet! I hope they find more canned fruit. I really miss canned pineapples. Do you remember when we still had that?” Bream asked, turning in the opposite direction from Eve. “Yes, I miss that too!” Eve answered. She still remembered what pineapples looked like because her room had pictures of them stuck to the walls, from the faded labels on those metal cans of fruit.
Eve said goodbye, and turned towards her house. She hefted her pan of now clean metal bowls and spoons, and filled her water container for the night, paying the water carrier his three chits. She was almost to the front door when Dirk called out to her from down the street.
“Eve, wait…I need to tell you something.” “Let me put these dishes inside first. I’ll be right back out,” she shouted back.
It was getting towards student curfew, but because they had graduated that very day, their curfew time had just increased by two full hours. And Eve intended to use the time to be with Dirk. She rapidly climbed the steps, opened the door, and set the dishes on the chipped counter top. Eve nodded to her mother, and then explained she would be out for another two hours with Dirk, but would finish her chores when she got back.
“Ma, I’m going out with Dirk for several hours,” Eve explained.
“That’s fine, Eve. Just don’t miss your new adult curfew. Tomorrow is a free day, so you can finish your chores then. You’ll have enough time tomorrow. Please don’t do anything that will get you in trouble. Have a good time. And, congratulations on your new job assignment,” her mother said. She took the dishes from Eve and began to put them away as her daughter left.
Eve ran back down the stairs, taking her hide boots and her old-time, faded and torn, grey goat hide jacket from the peg near the door. Not many had a hide jacket and she always got trade offers for it at the markets. But the jacket had become hers when her father died, and she would never part with it.
“What’s so important, Dirk. What do you have to tell me?” Eve said, once she’d returned to her front step to join Dirk. “It’s actually something I have to show you. You won’t believe it. I found it out past the tall buildings, right up near the outer dome wall in the decay zone. Hurry, it will take us a while to get there and back before our new curfew,” Dirk replied, taking off at a trot across Lightfighter City Park, with Eve following behind.
“I’m coming. Wait up.” Eve shouted across the park. They finally broke into a run, laughing all the way, their strong legs flying over the dim, candle-lit roads, until the paved road stopped and turned into the more dimly lit gravel road into the decay zone. The painted blue of their city dome was already turning into the night sky, and Eve watched as the star images appeared.
When it got too dark, Dirk took a candle from his pack and lit it with his flint. Eve never asked him how he came by the illegal candles, and he did not volunteer the information. When they arrived in the decay zone, Eve turned to Dirk and asked,
“What am I supposed to see, Dirk? This looks like the edge of the decay zone. I thought we already explored this area once.” She was out of breath from running the last leg of the trip, through Lightfighter Park, then to the outskirts of the city, until finally the paved roads gave way to rocky rubble that used to be a road…before they abandoned the tall buildings.
“We have to go further…almost to the dome wall over there,” Dirk replied, pointing to a tiny path that led to what looked like a pile of more grey cement blocks. He took her elbow to guide her through the rubble, pointing out the smaller rocks so she would not stumble. “What…this just looks like another old building mess. It looks like all the other collapsed areas,” Eve responded, stepping around a pile of concrete stones to reveal yet another path. She saw this one was even paved with stones…smaller stones set neatly into the hard dirt. They were in alternating white, brownish-red, and black and showed pictures of flowers and plants, like in Dirk’s book.
“Is this what you wanted to show me? They’re beautiful, Dirk! I wonder who made these. They used the stones to make pictures. It’s like that picture in your book…the one with those things called mosaics,” Eve said in a hushed tone. She knelt down and ran her hand across the surface of a mosaic depiction of a flower. Eve knew she was seeing something ancient. To her, the stone pictures looked like they were made and brought there by an ancient culture, like the mosaic stones in her dreams. No one in her city made such things, and maybe never had.
“This is not even what I was excited about, though they are pretty. Keep going this way,” Dirk replied, gently nudging Eve further down the path towards the dome wall. “We shouldn’t go any closer, Dirk. Sometimes the dome wall gives off a terrible shock. I saw someone killed that way once,” Eve warned as they approached the end of the path leading right up to the dome wall.
The dome was reflective so they could not see out of it; Eve saw her reflection, Dirk’s, and the soft glow of the candle casting shadows off the rocky rubble all around them. She saw the reflections of the tall ruins of the buildings in the background, with h
er city in the distance. It was like a mirror image of her entire world, and Eve then realized how small and fragile her world was. She felt the weight of responsibility to protect her home against the vast and hostile darkness of the void.
“Now touch the dome wall right there, right where the black spot is. It won’t hurt you. I found this after I left you at school today. I know I said we would check things out tomorrow, but you know me…I had to go right away,” Dirk said, reaching over to touch the wall, showing Eve it was safe. Eve touched it gently and the wall moved slightly outward, like when she touched a soft ball of yarn…and it bounced back.
“I thought it was supposed to be more solid. Do you think this part is also crumbling…breaking down like those black holes we saw?” Eve asked, slowly pulling her hand back. “Yes, I think this is what we saw the other time, when we climbed up on top that old building and saw the holes in the dome. But we didn’t touch it then; it’s even more fragile than I thought. This is really bad, Eve; it’s worse than Miggly and Blakeley think, ” Dirk replied.
“Should we tell them? Shouldn’t they know about this? I mean it could be dangerous,” Eve said. “No, not yet; we aren’t even supposed to be out this far, and if they find out we know, we could be taking the ride,” Dirk replied with a grim look, and then he went on. “They’ll say we’re trying to start a panic.” Eve nodded in agreement, staring at the dome. Dirk continued, “But this is not really what I wanted to show you either, Eve. Step over this pile of rocks and turn left, away from the wall.” Dirk nodded the direction with his head, his curly black hair shaking off his shoulders. He reached over and pushed back a strand of Eve’s hair from her face, then nodded for her to go forward.
Dirk still wore his brown student clothing and faded brown jacket, but had added some black goat-hide miner boots he had inherited from his grandfather who had been killed in a mining accident.
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