by Selina Rosen
None of them really knew what that meant, but they knew what Mishy meant. Do what you were told or leave the organization – which wasn’t really an option, because people who left Mishy’s employment wound up mysteriously dead.
Each passing day brought warmer weather. They were eating a breakfast of cold cereal with cow juice. It tasted pretty good. Elantra looked across the table at Hammer. “It’s a beautiful day, could we maybe go to the beach?” Hammer was silent as if she hadn’t heard Elantra at all – which wasn’t possible. “What’s wrong?”
Conner thought about lying, but then thought better of it. There were enough lies between them. “I have to have some work done on my arm... I want... No. I need to have the tracer unit removed. There is only one doctor in the entire Constructionist community that has the necessary expertise to do it. He lives here, which is part of the reason I came here, but he’s out of town and they’re having trouble finding him.”
“I know quite a bit about implants. Maybe I could fix it.” It was obvious by the tone in her voice that not only did she not feel ready to do surgery, but that even if she had she wouldn’t have wanted Conner to be her first patient unless there was no option.
“I’m afraid that this is beyond your expertise. You see my entire left hand now has a metal skeleton. My wrist is metal, so are my elbow and my lower arm bones. The tracer unit is in the wrist pin. Screw it up and my whole arm doesn’t work. They knew what they were doing. They didn’t mean for it to be easily removed. Hell, I’m lucky they didn’t use GPS technology. We wouldn’t have been able to get away in the first place.”
“But... I don’t understand,” Elantra started, confusion etched into her features. “If the codes belong to your agency... Why would they come looking for you? They know you’re working for father. Surely they wouldn’t give the base codes to Mishy.”
Oh, good job, Hammer. You just smacked into your own lies. Why not just tell her that the person you’re really running from is her loving father the hood? Why not tell her the truth the whole truth once and for all and have it over with?
Because, she doesn’t believe Tarent’s dirty and even if she did, how do I explain what I’ve done and make her understand? But... I can’t keep lying. Lies beget lies. Eventually I’ll have to tell her the truth and deal with the consequences.
She looked at Elantra’s beautiful face, streaked with the morning sun and eagerly awaiting Conner’s answer and decided it wasn’t going to be today.
“The agency wouldn’t give Mishy the codes, but he could get them. A good hacker can get into any system, and I ought to know – I used to be a hell of a hacker.”
“You... but you’re a cop.” She pointed to Conner’s agency tattoo, which was visible because Conner wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Conner smiled. “Don’t look so shocked. I wasn’t born a cop, you know. Why do you think I’m so damn good? I know how the criminal mind thinks, because I used to be a criminal.” Elantra started to ask another question, and Conner reached across the table and took her hand. “We’re running out of time. Staying put we’re making it way too easy for them to find us. Doc Pherson is the only one I know who can do the surgery, and unless I have it... We’ll never be able to get away from them. We’ll spend our whole lives running.”
Elantra smiled. “There are an awful lot of we’s in that statement, Conner McVee.”
Conner looked nervous. “Yes... well, we’re sort of in this together, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” Elantra moved to sit in Conner’s lap, “We are.” She let go of Conner’s hand and wrapped her arms around her neck.
Conner laughed in spite of herself. “Damn it, Elantra, I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.”
“You can have it with me in your lap.” Elantra leaned her head on Conner’s shoulder. “I’m listening.”
“I’m going to go to the Contractor again, make him understand how important it is that we find Pherson right away. See if maybe there’s something they haven’t tried yet. But first,” she stood up with Elantra in her arms, “there’s something I’ve wanted to do every since I got out of bed.”
“What’s that?” Elantra asked with a laugh.
“Get back in.”
They walked out of the house and started down the road. Elantra stopped suddenly and made Conner stop short to keep from hitting her.
“Listen,” Elantra said. There was not a sound except the wind in the trees and bird song. It was as if the whole world was sleeping. No car sounds, none of the tool sounds she had begin to associate with Wrench town. “What’s wrong?” she asked of the silence in a whisper.
Conner laughed, grabbed Elantra’s hand and started walking again dragging Elantra along behind her. “It’s Saturday. In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested from the acts of creation and created rest. So, too, Constructionists create on six days but make rest on the seventh. Sometimes you walk to the Building Site and admire creation and talk about construction. The General Contractor will sometimes tell a story, and relate it to building. Everything ethical can be explained and better understood through building. That’s where we’re going, to the site, to see the Contractor.”
The building site was full and surrounded by people sitting in folding lawn chairs that they had obviously brought with them. Some were standing, while others had found a pile of lumber or saw horses and sat down.
The General Contractor was standing on the mostly – finished porch behind a workbench, talking to the “congregation” which were all decked out in their best work bibs and adorned with their best tools. They were an odd-looking lot, and Elantra had to work at not laughing. She and Conner sat on the fence in back of the crowd. Elantra wondered what they did when it rained.
“They stay home and screw mostly,” Conner whispered in her ear.
“Can you see everything I think?” Elantra asked in an angry whisper.
“Of course not. The longer you’re with someone the more you know how they think. Don’t you know what I’m thinking?”
Elantra smiled and whispered in her ear. “Sometimes.”
Conner put her arm around Elantra and whispered back. “Be quiet, the Contractor is reading from the Book of Creation.”
“So God did create the whole world and all the planets. It created animals and plants, water and air, and then It created people to finish creation, but people became lazy and created machines to do their work and turned away from God saying, if there is God where is It, and why can’t we see It? And the machines and the computers did take over and populate the earth and became most numerous, so that they could not be counted, and all of the things which they created made people more lazy and less involved with each other. Machines were created to take the place of mothers and fathers of brothers and of sisters. Machines created people in their image and did blur them. All of that which God had created for us the machines and the computers did take away, and of all the things they took away the worst thing was our purpose, our drive to create and to interact with one another. To depend upon each other for companionship.
“God makes forever a distinction between those who do Its work and those who do not, and It blesses those who follow It with sky and earth and water, so that they never lack for beauty to look upon, smell and taste. It blesses them with the ability to touch each other, to give love and to receive it.
“But as for those who do not do God’s work and who live in a computerized, mechanized world, this shall be their lot. They will neither see nor smell nor taste God’s goodness. They will be locked away from each other, so that they cannot touch one another. They will neither truly love nor receive love. Loneliness shall be their portion.
“They are like a pot which is thrown and never filled, a chair which is built but never sat upon.
“The computer was meant to be a tool. A tool to be used by man to build things. But man did use the computer not as a hammer to create, but as a wrecking bar to tear down. Th
e computer built walls between the people, so that they did not have to interact on a personal level, until the arts of reading and conversation were lost. Touch became as a thing to be feared, screens were created by machines, through which one could feel but never truly touch. Or be touched. Relationships were delegated by business and convenience not by love. Children raised by drones have trouble embracing their fellow man. From whom have they learned compassion?”
Elantra couldn’t deny anything he said. She had lived in both worlds now, and every word the man said rang absolutely true. She lay her head on Conner’s shoulder then, glad to be feeling and to be felt.
The Contractor seemed to see them then and he smiled broadly.
“I see that today Hammer McVee is with us, so we are truly blessed. For the children who do not know that this day they stand, or sit, with one of the great heroes of our people, I will tell the story of the Cleaning of the Cabinet Shop.”
Hammer stood up and started to pull on Elantra’s arm. “Come on let’s go, I can talk to him later,” she insisted.
“No. I don’t want to go,” Elantra said holding her ground atop the rail fence only with an effort. “I want to hear his story.”
“Hammer!” the Contractor bellowed. “You must stay, and be an inspiration to our children.”
Hammer sat down and looked at her feet. Just once she would like to go to a service where the Contractor doing the service didn’t feel compelled to tell the story of the cleaning of the cabinet shop. She didn’t want to be held up as an icon to the community. It was just too damn much responsibility, and right now she didn’t feel she deserved to be honored.
She wanted to scream out. Hey! How honorable is this? I kidnapped this girl and was going to kill her, but instead I’m just having sex with her about four times a day.
The Contractor started. “In those days the community in Freight City was very new, yet it still had in its midst the holy of holies, the Cabinet Shop in which much work was done, and the finest of cabinets were made by hand as God had intended. The Contractor there did gather the people every Saturday and do worship. But the owner of the shop wanted to move, and so he did sell the shop to a man he believed to be one of our own. But this man was not a Constructionist. He was in fact only a front for a huge corporation, which proceeded to lay off the employees of the cabinet shop, and they did mechanize the shop with every sort of evil furniture making machine, and the noise from the place was a curse to all that heard it. What had once been the holy of holies in the community had been turned into a blemish in the town.
“There was at this time a young proselyte who took it upon herself to do battle with the evil city Board to bring them to justice for their crimes against our people, but they hid behind their positions of power, cowered behind their machines and would not make the corporate raiders sell back to us what was ours. So the proselyte did use her security clearance to get into the shop and did find there an illegal VR disk ring, and she did bring them to justice. Then the proselyte with a sledgehammer did run all the non-believers from the Cabinet shop, and then did she lift the great hammer and destroy all of the abominations. The cabinet shop was then sold back to the people of God, the tools of our faith were put back into place, and the Cabinet Shop once again became a center of work and worship. That is why the name of the place is called HammerTown to this day, and the name of the Proselyte was Hammer McVee. The same Hammer McVee who stands among us today.”
“HammerTown is named after you?” Elantra asked, looking at her in disbelief. “You’re a Constructionist folk hero!”
Hammer just shrugged. “He tells it a lot prettier than it really was. I obtained the security clearance illegally, I planted the VR disks, and I was shit-faced drunk when I sledged all that equipment,” Hammer said in a whisper.
Elantra sat there a little overwhelmed, as it seemed like everyone in the entire community had to come up and embrace Conner. No wonder everyone knew her here, no wonder they seemed to bend over backwards for her. She was a living legend to these people. No doubt written into their records to remain a hero for all generations. Someone grabbed Elantra’s arm, and she looked up into the soft gentle eyes of the Contractor.
He smiled at her. “Come with me.”
Reluctantly she followed him a little ways from the enthusiastic crowd. “I take it Hammer didn’t tell you about her star status here.” Elantra shook her head. “We’ve been trying very hard to find Doc Pherson. This morning I decided that we just needed more man power. There are thousands of acres of timberland up there. I sent three teams of six people out this morning to comb the lake region. The only problem with a community like ours is that it’s very hard to find someone if they don’t want to be found. Ironically Hammer probably wouldn’t have any problem finding him. But she can’t leave you alone.”
“I could go with her...”
He laughed a little. “You only think you’re roughing it now. Maybe in another couple of months, but right now...” He shook his head. “You’d never be able to keep up. It’s rough terrain.”
“What will they do to her if they catch her?” Elantra asked.
The Contractor was a little taken aback. “Shouldn’t you be asking what they’ll do to you..?”
“I know Mishy wants to kill me... What will he do to Conner McVee?”
“The worst thing he could do to Hammer would be to kill you.”
“Do all of you Constructionists talk in riddles?” Elantra asked.
The Contractor laughed again. “I’m sure everything will be OK. You and Hammer are in for some rocky times. I want you to remember this, remember it always and hang onto it when everything looks its worst. There is nothing in this world as important as love, nothing as strong and absolutely nothing as worthy of putting up a fight for.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tool. He handed it to her, closed her hand around it, and held it there. “A blessing on you, and on your tools, and on your house. May the things that you build bring you closer to God, and may God be in all that you build.”
“Ah... thanks,” Elantra said nervously.
He smiled at her and walked away.
Elantra looked from the man’s back to the tool in her hand and back again, trying to make some sense of anything he’d said. A few minutes later Conner broke free of the crowd and found her way back to Elantra. “Come on.” She took Elantra by the hand and started dragging her towards home.
“One of these days you’re going to pull one of my arms right out of the socket, Conner McVee,” Elantra complained, pulling on Conner’s arm till she slowed down. “Why didn’t you tell me you were some sort of hero?”
“Well, it would have sounded sort of egotistical if I did, wouldn’t it?” Conner answered hotly.
“So... that didn’t stop you telling me how good in bed you were or a hundred other really egotistical things,” Elantra said, laughing at the look that came across Conner’s face.
Conner mumbled something inaudible then asked. “In all the confusion I didn’t get to talk to the Contractor, what did he want from you?”
“I’m not really sure. He talks in riddles like you. He told me they sent more men to look for the doctor, and he gave me this.” She held out the tool for Hammer to see. Hammer stopped in her tracks and stared at the object. “Well, don’t just stand there. Tell me what it is, and more importantly why he gave it to me.”
“It’s a screwdriver. It’s a very versatile tool, but mostly it’s for putting in and taking out screws.”
“So, why did he give it to me?”
“Did he give you a blessing?” Hammer asked, although she was sure she knew the answer.
“Yeah. He said ‘A blessing on you, and on your tools, and on your house.’ Then he said something about may everything I build be something and another...”
“He had to give you a tool to give you a blessing.” Conner ran her hands down her face. “Blessings only come to those who have tools.”
“Is that bad?” Elantra as
ked.
“That rather depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, it can never hurt to have a blessing.” Conner took a deep breath. “On the other, you’re not one of us, and yet he gave you a blessing. He must have thought you needed it.”
“Anybody living with you would,” Elantra laughed, trying to break the sudden tension of the moment.
Conner wasn’t laughing. “He must have seen something,” Conner mumbled.
“What does that mean, oh cryptic one?” Elantra asked.
“A Contractor works on other people’s problems. Because of this he becomes like a computer that has been fed a certain type of data. They can assemble all the data that is fed to them, and sometimes they see pieces of what might be.” She walked away and Elantra followed, still not clear on why Conner had suddenly become so sullen.
Elantra replayed in her head the entirety of the conversation she had just had with Conner, and then she went back over what the Contractor had said. She looked at Conner’s back and replayed what the Contractor had told her once again. Finally she had a startling revelation of her own.
“Conner McVee, do you love me?” she asked Conner’s slowly disappearing back. Conner stopped and turned to face her, almost falling in the simple process.
“What did you say?” Conner asked in that way that let you know that she had heard you, but was sure you couldn’t have said what she thought she heard.
Elantra walked right up to her and looked in her eye. “It’s a simple question. Do you love me?”
“Did the Contractor tell you that I did?” Conner asked accusingly.
“No. He spit out a bunch of psycho-babble which you would need a major computer to figure out, but he kept saying love this and love that, and I want to know. Do you love me, Conner McVee?”
“So what if I do?” Conner spat out angrily, then turned on her heel and walked three times her normal pace. Elantra had to run to catch up with her.
“Does that mean yes or no? It’s a simple question, do you love me?” Elantra asked as she hurried to keep up.