by Anita Ensal
He couldn’t figure out how a number could help him stop a nightmare, but he’d been trained to do what the Programmers told him, so he memorized the number. His mind’s voice spent some time asking him why the Underwriter had visited him and, since Delight had told him that none fully linked into the System could read or write, who had actually written the numbers down on the paper he was staring at. But he had no answers, and ultimately chose not to dwell on it.
Chapter 10
Finally the day arrived when he was supposed to meet Emily. He’d decided that acting like he’d forgotten about the appointment would be the safest bet and so was in his quarters, watching Vid. He knew that he was past time to leave to be on time to meet Emily, but he kept himself lounging on the couch.
The Mother Board wandered into his rooms. “Don’t you have an appointment to keep, David?” she asked chidingly.
He looked over at her. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly.
She shook her head. “With that writer? At the coffeehouse?”
He looked blank for a moment, then let the realization dawn. “Oh! Is that today?” he asked, as he got up languidly. He glanced at the clock. “I have plenty of time.”
She shook her head. “No, you are supposed to be there in five minutes.”
“Oh.” He shrugged. “Guess I didn’t remember the right time. Think it’ll matter if I’m late?”
“No.” She smiled. “I’m sure she’ll wait for you. If she was as impressed with you as she sounded in her article.”
His stomach clenched at that. Now David was worried that he’d put Emily in more danger by pretending he didn’t remember the appointment. He knew she would be scared and, if he was too late, she might indeed run, because she would fear a trap. He feared a trap himself.
But he just shrugged again. “Guess I’ll find out. How long do you want me to spend with her?”
“As long as necessary to show the most people that she’s indeed impressed with your company,” was her pleasant reply.
“Okay,” he said, flashing her his roguish grin, which he knew she liked. “If you say I have to.”
David left the Tower and kept his pace slow and casual, doing his best to look like a man who was going to an appointment he didn’t relish. He was fifteen minutes late by the time he got to the coffeehouse and he wondered what he’d do if Emily wasn’t there.
He walked inside and the odor of what Emily had told him was ground coffee hit his nostrils again. He took a deep breath, enjoying the smell. He looked around and his heart leaped, because she was there, at the same table they’d been at before.
David went over to her, and as he got nearer she jumped up and raced over to him, giving him a huge smile – the kind of smile he was used to, not her smile. David felt disappointment wash over him. “Oh, I’m so glad you could make it!” she said breathlessly, as she grabbed his arm and dragged him to the table.
She sat down again and gave him another huge, fake smile. “Do you want a coffee? I know you loved it when you tried it last week.”
He opened his mouth to say that he’d hated the two sips of coffee he’d managed to choke down last week, when the voice in his head snidely mentioned that Emily was far more adept with coded messages than he was, and she was telling him that they were being watched – and that her actions weren’t real.
“Sure,” he said with enthusiasm.
She looked extremely pleased and made a motion to the people behind the counter. The young man who’d been there the week prior came rushing over. “Here’s your coffee, sir,” he said, sounding extremely respectful.
Now David knew they were being watched, and he wondered who it was. The coffeehouse couldn’t take AllCards, so they had no computer hookups. Therefore, the only ones there would be mobile. David shifted a bit, realizing as he did so that, unlike the week prior, he was sitting with his back to a wall, meaning that he could casually look around the room.
Emily was babbling next to him. He almost ignored her, but the voice in his head reminded him that she wasn’t Delight and if she was babbling it was to cover information she was trying to pass to him.
“I was so flattered that you’d read my article,” she was saying. “I got so many positive comments about it, too.” She giggled. “I wish I’d met you years earlier.”
David gave her his standard roguish grin. “Glad to help. So, what questions do you want to ask me this time?”
“Oh,” she said, pulling out her pad of paper and pen, “let me get ready!” She had the pad in her hands at an angle, but he saw that there were words on the paper. He also noted that, due to how they were both sitting, he was the only one in the coffeehouse who would be able to see what was on that pad.
He gave the words a closer look while he brought the coffee to his lips. He was shocked when he saw and tasted it – it was whitish and was far sweeter and less bitter than before. He took a larger sip, then looked away from the pad. Above and ahead, 2 Operators, disguised as students, were what the words said.
David looked around the coffeehouse like a man surveying his domain. He wanted to ensure that the Operators thought he was very comfortable here.
“So,” he said jovially, “what’s question number one?”
Emily gave him a bright look. “What is the Mother of the Next Generation like? I think everyone was intrigued by you, and since we can’t meet her, you’re the only one who can truly tell us what she’s like.”
David managed not to laugh. Everyone asked him this question and he had his stock answers more than memorized. Which he knew Emily was aware of, because while she was busy scribbling words onto the pad, they weren’t anything he was actually saying. Your letter was safely delivered, but only because you are actually as clever as they tell us. But I have to run tonight.
He felt his heart constrict and he stumbled over his description of Delight. “But,” he managed to recover, “most people want to know why they can’t meet Delight in person. That’s because she’s just too important to risk…”
He went on as Emily nodded and wrote some more. Because they suspect we’ve made a connection and, worse, they suspect you’re starting to think. I’ll do my best to ensure that they can’t prove either one. You’ll just have to forget about me. Quickly. Before they make you forget about me. She’d underlined the word “make” three times, but David had already known what she meant before she did so.
He was done with his discussion of Delight’s wonders. Emily didn’t leave any time for silences. “So, what do you think of the lower-level workers, truly?” she asked, sounding deeply interested.
“I can still remember the first time I met one,” he said carefully. “In fact, I know that I’ll never forget it, no matter what I do.”
“How so?” she asked, as he saw worry flash through her eyes.
“I was younger and running,” he said, pulling an old memory up. “I loved to run…I still do in fact…but this time I’m speaking of I stumbled and fell. But this nice man helped me up and brushed me off. He was a janitor, and he took me back home. I’ve always felt a kinship to the lower-level workers since then.”
Emily was writing again. He’s okay, they let him go because he’d already gotten your letter to the next courier before they caught him. He’s run already, and made it out. But you can’t. She looked up at him. “Would you like a cookie?”
“Why not?”
She motioned to the boy behind the counter, and he came trotting over again. “The Chosen One would like a cookie,” she told him solemnly. The boy nodded and went back over to the counter.
You are unmistakable. Everyone knows who you are. You will have a hard time running successfully. You have your nice, safe life, she wrote, while they waited. Why would you want to run? If I’m gone, and you play it right, they’ll leave you alone.
David took a long drink of his coffee. “You know,” he said conversationally, “I just love this coffee. Amazing, isn’t it? I’ve only had it twice, but I’d like to
have it all the time. Even though I know there are risks associated with it. But I think they would be worth it, to have something like this every day.”
She looked up at him and, though she was trying to hide it, he could tell she was upset. “I love coffee, too,” she said slowly, “though I know I shouldn’t and can’t even explain why. But sometimes you have to give things up for your own good.”
He shrugged as the boy brought over a plate full of cookies of various types. “Maybe.” He picked through the cookies. There was one with chocolate sprinkles on it that stood out to him. “You know,” he said casually, picking up the cookie but not eating it, “the Mother Board has hair this color. Well, sometimes. She changes what she looks like, but she’s always beautiful, always perfect.” He looked over at Emily. “Because she was made that way. Delight and I strive to be as perfect as she is, so that the Next Generation will be closer to her ideal.” He crumbled the cookie in his hand. “But things can change that quickly. And, if something bad were to happen to me or Delight, I know that the Mother Board would find someone else just as suitable.”
Emily gave him a smile, but he could tell she was fighting to do so. “She and the Master Computer are indeed our benefactors, as you told me last week. Tell me more about what it’s like to live in the Tower.”
He warbled on about this while she wrote again. You don’t understand the risks. You don’t know that we live in a bubble, that the weather and the sunrise and sunset are all holographic and not real, that there’s a whole world out there none of us ever see. We don’t know what it’s really like, just that it’s not wired to the Master Computer. It could be awful. You’re better off here.
“I particularly like the gym,” he mentioned. “It’s hard work, keeping in shape, and I don’t really understand how some of the machines do their magic, but I’m willing to do it, because that’s one of the things that’s going to guarantee the best Next Generation.”
You don’t understand, she wrote, as she nodded her head and murmured for him to go on. I have to go tonight. You’d have to leave right now, with just the clothes on your back and nothing else, especially not that AllCard you carry around. You aren’t ready.
“I didn’t think I was ready, when the Mother Board told me I was selected to be the next Chosen One,” he told her. “But I was, and I came to realize that in less time than you might imagine.”
Emily gave him a long look, but she seemed to reach a decision. “This will sound silly to you, I’m sure,” she said shyly, “but would you mind taking a walk in the Old Park with me? I so enjoyed our time there last week.”
He nodded. “Of course.” It was still daylight, and he wondered why they were leaving now, but he didn’t argue. He looked around as he stood up, noting that the Operators were still there and seemed to be watching him. He looked at the plate of cookies. “Am I supposed to give him barter slips for those?” he asked suddenly.
“Yes, but I’ll be happy to do so.”
“No.” He reached around in his pocket. “I thought to bring some with me this time.” He had, and he wrapped them around his AllCard, depositing both onto the table, though only the barter slips were showing.
Emily gave him a quick nod and he knew she’d figured out what he’d done. “Good enough. Shall we?” She stood up, putting her pad and pen into her shoulder bag, which she again put over her head. He let her lead the way out of the coffeehouse. He noted that the young man was watching them, giving David a look that clearly said he didn’t trust him at all. David hoped that circumstances wouldn’t work out to prove the boy right.
Chapter 11
“So,” Emily said cheerfully as they walked along, “do you wear an earcom or a digiwatch?”
“No,” he smiled, mentally doing a check of anything on him that could be used as a mobile linking device. “When I’m out among the lower-levels I want to just enjoy them. I like to upload my memories later, to review them or discard them depending.”
She stumbled and looked down. “Need to tie my shoe,” she said apologetically, as she crouched down. He saw something small in her hand – an electronic device of some kind. He felt panic hit him, as the thought occurred to him that she could be working for the Mother Board, to trap him, to prove that he was unworthy.
Emily looked up at him. “Nice belt buckle. Where’d you get it?”
He looked down at the silver eagle on his belt and it dawned on him that she was holding a scanner – and that it had identified a link. One he hadn’t been aware of, the voice in his mind mentioned.
“Oh, I guess from Central Supply,” he told her in a bored tone. “All my clothes come from there.”
She nodded. “Everything’s nice. I just particularly like that buckle. The buttons on your jacket are interesting, too.” David wondered how he was going to get rid of his belt and jacket without anyone noticing. Emily stood up. “It’s warm out, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he agreed, taking his jacket off to prove it to anyone who might be watching them. He had worn a tight long-sleeved black mock turtle-neck shirt, black jeans, and black boots today. Unlike the belt and jacket, they weren’t new. He’d found the belt and jacket in his closet within the last week – he hadn’t questioned it because clothes came and went for him, as was deemed necessary. But now he knew that the Mother Board still didn’t fully believe that he wasn’t interested in Emily in a real way and he felt a chill go up his spine.
David pushed his sleeves up on his forearms, gave her a reassuring smile, and they walked on, with him holding his jacket in front of his belt so that he could surreptitiously unhook the buckle.
He’d spent many years doing things with his hands where the various Teachers and Programmers couldn’t see, out of boredom, mostly, so he’d become quite adept at it. He was able to talk about the wonders of the Tower while he removed the buckle and slid it into one of the jacket’s pockets.
They reached the park and wandered over to the benches under the weeping willows. They sat down and David laid his jacket over the back of their bench. “Want to look at the water?” he asked Emily now, working to keep his voice casual.
“Sure.” She hopped up and walked towards the water. They reached the lake’s edge and stood there, staring at it.
“Anything else you like on my clothes?” he asked her.
“No, you’re clean now,” she said softly. She looked up at him. “I want you to stay at the benches, though. I’m going to make sure that the bolt-hole isn’t being watched. If it’s safe, I’ll come back and get you.”
She moved to walk away, but David grabbed her arm. “Don’t leave me here,” he said urgently. “Don’t go off alone.” His dream was rushing over him and he knew if they separated he’d see her die or never see her again.
She shook her head. “It’ll be safer this way, David. And,” she added softly, “that way, if you…change your mind…you’ll be able to go back safely.”
He felt himself starting to shake. “I won’t change my mind.”
She gave him a gentle look. “It could be infatuation with something new, you know, David. Not….” Her voice trailed off and she looked away from him, at the lake again.
“No,” he said in a low voice. “It’s not infatuation. I finally…feel something, something real…and it’s all because of you. And the feelings aren’t going to go away and they aren’t going to stop.” She looked back at him and he saw tears in her eyes again. “I…I want to take care of you,” he whispered.
“You’re supposed to take care of the Next Generation,” she said wryly, this time making the title clear in her tone.
He shrugged. “I don’t know why, any more. I don’t want to be the Father…I just want to be a man.”
She gave him a long look. “Being a man is much harder than being the sperm donor, David.”
“I know. But I know I can manage it. If you help me.”
“Why me?”
“Because….” He struggled for how to put it into words. “Because
you’re the only person who’s ever treated me like I was…real. I don’t exist, really, to everyone else. I didn’t know that until I met you, but I know it now. I’m just a figurehead, just someone being used. The genetic sample you said I was. No one cares about me. Not Delight, not the lower-level people, not the Programmers or other high-level workers – not even the Master Computer or the Mother Board. They all want to use me, but no one cares about what I want, what I think, what I want to do.”
“Up until a week ago, all you wanted to do was wander around being the Chosen One, waiting for your big mating day.”
He nodded. “That’s why the Mother Board is so worried about my having met you. I’ve started thinking, just like you said she didn’t want, and it’s been easy to figure out that whatever world we’re in now, it’s not the right one. At least, it’s not the right one for me.”
“But you were chosen above all other males to live a perfect life, filled with ease and relaxation, with no cares or worries, ever. With no need to work or toil, feel pain or loss, make difficult decisions or want for anything. Why would you want to give that up?”
He shook his head. “Because it’s not right. The only people I’ve ever seen who looked like they were having a…a good life were the ones in that coffeehouse. No one was bowing or scraping to me, no one was trying to entertain anyone else, but they were all relaxed and I could tell they were contented. Not perfectly contented, but content in a real way.”
She shrugged. “I suppose so. Lower-levelers have a different life than you’ve ever had. It’s still not what our ancestors had, but it’s as close as we can get in this bubble world we live in.” She looked around. “Millions of people, all kept in this perfect city, with its calmly regulated weather and its perfect days and quiet nights.” She looked back up at him. “I still think you should stay here and wait for me.”