Heron Fleet

by Paul Beatty

  In front the first lorry had come to a sharp turn. As they turned their back wheels started to skid left. Skidding like this on the sort of tracks we have been using have become commonplace so neither Miriam nor I paid much attention. Then there was a more urgent shout. ‘Look out! The bank is giving way.’ I watched as the back wheels of the first lorry slid steadily towards the edge of the track above the stream. A rain of stones, snow, mud and boulders was falling from the edge of the track down into the stream. The back wheels of the lorry spun and the driver crashed the gearbox as they changed down to try to get more grip. Slowly the lorry got the grip it needed but as it pulled itself to safety, behind it the track gave way. The front wheels of the second lorry fell into the developing hole. The cab dipped and lurched over the edge. The cloth side of the back of the lorry quivered. Then the back toppled left and the lorry rolled down the bank. It came to rest upside down. We could see the driver struggling to get the door open. He seemed alright. People were already clambering down, responding to shouts from the adults taking a cold break in the back and the weeping of the children. It happened suddenly from then. There was a flicker of yellow at the edge of the one of the canvas sides. The flame took hold, nothing large or too bad, I thought. Then there was an explosion as this innocuous flame reached one of the drums of diesel the lorry was carrying. Alison and Charlie were on the lorry. I skidded and tumbled down the slope as the flames roared. I found Charlie knocked about but still alive. He had been thrown clear as the lorry had tumbled over the edge and rolled down the bank. I left him where he was and tried to get as close as I could to the lorry but the flames beat me back. Miriam caught up with me and pulled me away. Alison and three other children, two adults in the cab and one other, have been killed.

  Chapter 14

  After Francesca had answered questions, there was a break for people to stretch their legs. As soon as the Council had gone Tobias came straight over and gave Francesca a huge hug.

  ‘Your answers were wonderful, you know that don’t you?’

  ‘I’m too confused to judge,’ she replied. ‘I certainly wasn’t ready to confess to the whole of the community that I had tried to kill myself.’

  ‘I’m sorry I put you in that position but it emphasises how truthful and honest you are. If you’re in doubt about the foundations of Heron Fleet and the legitimacy of the Rule, then that must give everyone pause for thought.’

  Jonathan came up to them. ‘I agree with Tobias,’ he said. ‘You were very brave to say what you said and it was very moving. I’m sorry to have caused you so much hurt.’ He turned to Tobias. ‘Hasn’t it simply opened the way for the Council to separate Anya and me?’

  ‘I don’t think Francesca’s answers have increased that risk significantly.’

  Anya had been standing listening. ‘I don’t see it that way. I think it has improved the chances of them putting the baby safely into the Crèche where nice Aunty Francesca will be there to take care of it.’

  Francesca was shocked. Before she could stop herself, she turned on Anya. ‘How could you say that? It’s not like that!’

  ‘No? Look me in the eye and say the thought had never crossed your mind. If you can’t have me, well perhaps you’d be prepared to settle for a more unorthodox relationship.’

  ‘It’s not me who wanted a baby! If I repeated all the things you said to me when you told me that Ruth’s accusation was true, other people might think you used Jonathan as well as me just to get the baby you wanted!’ Jonathan and Tobias looked on incredulously. ‘But I’ll tell you this, no matter what happens I’m going to spend all the time I can playing with the children in the Crèches. I’m going to teach them to sing and recite and I’m going to make sure that if those Crèche Nurse witches try to control their lives they’ll have to get past me first. If they end up calling me Aunty Francesca then I’ll be honoured.’

  The Hall was filling again. ‘I think we should be getting back to our places,’ said Tobias in the awkward silence. They started to sit down.

  As soon as the Council was back in and Peter had called for order, Tobias stood. ‘I am aware, Peter, that Heron Fleet has no library of books and that very few of even the senior Gatherers can read. In my travels and by trading in the cities I have come across books that record some principles other people have used in governing communities.’ He walked over to his table and pointed to its small pile of texts. ‘I would like to offer these three as evidence of what people in the past have thought were the correct principles that might be used to govern a community like Heron Fleet.’

  ‘I hope this is going somewhere, Tobias,’ interjected Peter. ‘The account you gave of the world outside Heron Fleet when you first came to us doesn’t suggest that what they might contain would be likely to offer us a good example.’ There was some muffled laughter from those who knew those stories.

  Tobias smiled. ‘It is true that the Scavenger Gangs offer no examples of civilisation to Heron Fleet. But not everything known about how to govern a community comes from the Scavenger Gangs or even the Rule. What’s in two of these books show that the founding principles of Heron Fleet were thought of long before the Founders passed them to us in the Red Book.’

  ‘Oh yes,’ shouted a voice from the back. ‘So what do we owe them then, Outcast?’

  Tobias took up the challenge. ‘Good question, what do we owe them? Well, take the principle of voting for a council as a way of settling differences in a community. We owe that to people in a city called Athens in a country called Greece, thousands of years before the Founders.’ He held up one of the books and carried it over to Peter. ‘That principle is in here. That part of the Rule was not invented from scratch by the Founders, they used examples they knew.

  ‘And it doesn’t stop there.’ He walked back to the table and took up the second book. ‘This one contains the idea of a community working together to grow its own food. The author maintains living together was the way humankind lived when we first began. It makes the argument that the only way to stop human beings destroying the earth is to go back to that original way of living. The author called the principle self-sufficiency and without it the book predicts catastrophes of famine, disease and disastrous changes in the weather. It advocates the principles by which Heron Fleet lives. The principles that every Apprentice swears to honour: community, identity and stability.’ He placed the second book in front of Peter.

  ‘But it is this book that is the most interest to us at this Testing. You might ask what principle from the book did the Founders adopt? Well they didn’t adopt anything from this book. Maybe they had never read it, who can say?’

  ‘So why is it interesting?’ shouted the heckler.

  ‘Because the principles it contains argue against the central guiding principle in the Red Book, that the needs of the community are more important than the needs of the individual. This book says that the really important things that define human beings, things that no one should ever be allowed to take from us, are ours not because we earn them by what we do for a community but are ours simply because we are human.’

  The intensity of noise in the Hall had grown steadily as Tobias had been talking about the books. It increased again, making it difficult for Tobias to be heard, but he was not going to be deprived of his dramatic climax.

  ‘I agree with this book. It implies that the Rule is both unjust and in error because it does not accept the idea that we all have what the book calls rights. Those rights include the right to justice as in this Testing, the right to a say in how we are governed as in electing a Council, the right to our own beliefs even if they differ from those of our neighbours, the right to protection from violence. This book says that when some of those rights were omitted from the Rule it fell short of what each one of us can legitimately expect as our human heritage. A heritage we have from the moment we are born to the moment we die. Francesca gave a wonderful description of the basis of one of those rights, to love who we choose. This book says that if tha
t principle had been laid out in the Rule by the Founders then there would be no Testing of Anya and Jonathan today because they would have the right to love who they choose and to bring up their own child!’

  The uproar was immediate. Peter shot to his feet shouting for order but he was too late. There was open arguing in the Hall as Gatherer shouted at Gatherer. All he could do was adjourn the Testing.

  It was clear that the Testing could not resume that day. The best that could be hoped was that tempers would cool enough for the evening meal to be held as normal. To help calm things down Tobias volunteered not to eat in the Hall that evening and suggested that Francesca, Anya and Jonathan also stay away. Peter accepted this and said that he would announce that the Testing would resume the following morning.

  ‘Why don’t you eat on the boat?’ he suggested.

  ‘Provided you promise not to have us towed out to sea?’ replied Tobias tartly.

  ‘Interesting idea,’ Peter replied with little if any irony. ‘I’d be very tempted if I thought I could get the boat round into the river mouth without you noticing.’ He stalked off.

  Thomas agreed to bring the food for the meal to the boat so they could go immediately and be away from any argumentative Gatherers who might be hanging around after the meeting.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Tobias to him. ‘You have been courtesy itself.’

  ‘I feel it is my duty as a Gatherer to enable the Testing to take place fairly and openly,’ Thomas replied. He paused. ‘I thought what you said about the three books was very interesting. I too often think of the Rule as being something that we should never debate or change. I would be grateful if, at sometime, I could read those books.’

  ‘You can read?’ said Anya.

  ‘Don’t be too surprised. When I was younger I obtained two books from an Outlander Trader who came to Heron Fleet with some fresh meat to sell. We got on well and he gave me the books as a parting gift. So I learned to read. There are not many books in Heron Fleet but there are a few like mine and those of us who have them pass them round. We teach those who can find us to read if they ask.’

  They started to make their way to the jetty. As it turned out there were very few people about so they did not have to hurry.

  ‘Well that was a turn-up,’ said Jonathan.

  ‘Umm,’ said Tobias thoughtfully. ‘Makes me wonder how backward-looking some of the senior members of Heron Fleet really are.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Anya.

  ‘I had never really considered how many quietly-acquired books there might be in Heron Fleet. There would have been many occasions over the years when interested members of the community like Thomas would have had the opportunity to obtain a few books here or there. With books comes the incentive to read, with reading come new ideas.’

  ‘What is the good of new ideas here?’ said Jonathan. ‘No one would ever let you use them.’

  ‘I’m sure they would if they could see a good reason for using them,’ said Francesca. ‘For instance, if new inventions offered an increase in the harvest. After all, Tobias was allowed to build the central domes of the Glasshouses using methods he learned in the cities.’ Anya and Jonathan were astonished.

  ‘You built the domes?’ said Anya.

  ‘Only the first three,’ said Tobias. ‘I’d always been interested in the things the people of the cities made using methods that had been lost.’

  ‘That’s understating it. You have curiosity for curiosity’s sake,’ said Francesca.

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Tobias. ‘Cutting out reading suppresses curiosity and it is one of the reasons Heron Fleet has stopped developing and growing. That makes it vulnerable. It is possible the weather is getting more stable. “Good,” says comfortable old Heron Fleet, “I can take it easy, when really it may be just the time to make more communities like Heron Fleet and for Heron Fleet to increase its size. Even if the weather isn’t getting more stable and the cold that brought the Founders here comes again, only the communities that have some of knowledge the City builders used will stand any chance of surviving.’

  They had got to the boat and Tobias led them on board.

  ‘How are the repairs going?’ Francesca said to him.

  ‘We still need to raise the new mast as you can see. We found some damage to the steering gear we didn’t know was there, which is a complication, and some damage below the waterline isn’t completely repaired. We’ve done what we can from inside the hull and it’s watertight, but to finish it off properly she’ll have to come out of the water in the spring. Peter will have the pleasure of my company until Mayday at least.’

  They followed him down the cabin steps. It was twilight and below deck it was almost pitch-dark.

  ‘Hold on,’ he said. They heard him rummaging about. ‘Got it.’ There was a click and a beam of blue-tinged light illuminated the bottom of the steps.’

  ‘What on earth is that?’ exclaimed Jonathan.

  ‘Oh, sorry, I take it for granted. This is an electric torch.’ Tobias weighed it in his hand with pride and pleasure. Then he tossed it to Francesca. ‘Imagine what a whole set of big versions of those would do for the work in your beloved Glasshouses,’ he said to her. ‘How much more might you do in the growing season? How much extra might you grow? Perhaps you could make ones that helped plants grow in the dark parts of the year.’ Francesca passed the torch to Anya. ‘Imagine a whole row of big versions of those set in the roof of the Gathering Hall so people could work with more than the light from the fire and a few burning torches in the winter.’

  They passed the electric torch around. After a few minutes it started to get faint. Tobias wound it up so that the light recovered.

  ‘You might even use the river to generate the electricity from some sort of water-powered winder. Surprising what a good idea might do?’

  There was a voice from the deck. It was Thomas. ‘I’ve got the food and the tagines are going cold. So if you want it hot you better show yourselves.’

  It didn’t take long to set the food out on the cover of the deck and start on the meal. By the time Peter arrived an hour or so later they had eaten well and Tobias had passed round the aquavite at least twice. Their spirits were high and they were in the process of persuading Francesca to sing or at least recite one of her poems. But Peter didn’t seem to look kindly on what he found. He surveyed the scene with evident distaste.

  ‘Come on, Peter, sit down,’ said Tobias, offering him a glass. ‘You never objected in the past.’

  ‘I don’t think I will,’ Peter replied. ‘It won’t take me long to deliver my message. I will not allow the three books you quoted this afternoon to be admitted as evidence. This Testing is not an excuse for a challenge to the validity of the Rule. Rather the accusation must be judged only in the context of the Rule and against the code that has kept this community safe for generations. Anya and Jonathan acted in the knowledge of the Rule. It seems only just and fair that they are tested in the context of what they defied.’

  Tobias stood up. ‘And that is your final word?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, that is my final word. The community as a whole will hear it tomorrow when we resume.’

  ‘So any arguments that are to be put for the Council to consider before pronouncing punishment must be put in the context of what is in the Rule and only what is in the Rule?’

  ‘I think that is what I said. Though I suppose more precisely I mean all those parts of the Red Book that govern how Heron Fleet behaves.’

  Peter began to go, but just before he stepped down onto the jetty he turned. ‘Tobias, I’ve used one more of my rights under the Rule this evening. Because of the excitable feelings that your final statement this afternoon created, I have imposed an evening curfew. Thomas and Francesca, you should be getting your charges back to their quarters. Goodnight.’ He stepped on to the jetty and disappeared into the darkness.

  The Gathering Hall was even more crowded than the day before. Francesca thought that it was
unlikely there were any Gatherers anywhere else. She even spotted the Crèche Nurses sitting discreetly at one side. It was unheard of that they should attend an open community meeting. The Council filed in and after calling for order Peter addressed them.

  ‘There are just two things I want to say to everyone. The arguments raised at the end of yesterday’s proceedings led to fierce disagreement between members of the community, which made it impossible to conclude this Testing in a single day.

  ‘Friends, however we feel about what is said, it is the Gatherer way to hear all arguments with quiet respect. I hope there will be no more outbursts such as those of yesterday. I must warn you that I have arranged with the Gatekeepers that, if I order it, they will eject any members who cannot discipline themselves.

  ‘The second thing is to announce my decision not to accept the books that Tobias quoted yesterday as evidence.’ Despite his previous warning, there was a buzz of talking around the Hall. He paused to see if the noise would develop into anything more but it died away and he went on. ‘Tobias, you may continue.’

  Tobias stood up. ‘I thank the Head of the Council and I call him to answer questions.’

  This time there was a gasp from the onlookers. Peter pushed back his chair and stood up, raising his hand in a gesture of quiet. ‘This is in order, as Speaker, Tobias has the right to ask any Gatherer to answer questions.’ He made his way round to the other side of the Table and sat on the witness stool.

  Tobias approached him. ‘Last night, when we were discussing the matter of including the books in evidence…’

  Peter cut in, ‘I hope that does not mean you intend to challenge my decision.’

  ‘No, I just want it to be clear. I will not challenge it but I want you to confirm what you said to me then.’