As I dropped to the other side of the wall, I could hear Ziusudra howl with anger. But I didn't care; I was free.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Rebecca had enough. She turned the translation off. The terrible notion that Minister Theoman killed her compounded with the revelation that Ziusudra, the savior of The Collective, was possessing people in order to live forever proved to be too much. Her mind continually returned to the impaled bodies rotting on the poles, to the crows eating their flesh. She felt nauseated. Rebecca closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on pleasant things as the rail car bumped along in the dark ice tunnel. She used the same guided meditation methods taught by the Ministry for use during the Five Duties. She meditated on being safe and on undoing the problems mounting around her.
Suddenly the lights in the car flickered a few times. Rebecca opened her eyes and looked around. The lights flickered again but this time they stayed on.
"Hello there!" crackled a voice from the speaker overhead. "Can anyone hear me?"
Rebecca was so delighted to hear a human voice that she almost sprang up from her seat when she said: "Yes! Yes! I can hear you!"
"Well then," the male voice said cheerfully, "you've crossed the halfway point and are no longer inside The Collective. Welcome to the Vriezen."
I'm no longer in The Collective, thought Rebecca in awe. Never in a million years did she think she would ever leave The Collective.
"You have little less than an hour before reaching Home Station. Just call out if you have any problems. See you soon!" The crackle ended.
See you soon, thought Rebecca. Her mind didn't know where to begin. It was terrifying and yet exciting to be out of the Ministry controlled sectors. During all of her time in the Academy she was told that the Heretique were a barbarous bunch that lived like animals and thrived on chaos. Now she was going to get a first hand experience, something she was sure that none of her instructors had. I'm going to meet my biological father, she told herself. It was exhilarating and yet terrifying. Somehow she had always known she would meet him one day—but not like this, she told herself. She hadn't abandoned her plan. Rebecca was still plotting to use her father as a negotiation tool.
*******
The thoughts continued for the remainder of the trip. There were no more hang-ups along the way and time seemed to have sped up after hearing the friendly male voice over the speaker. It wasn't, however, until the car grinded to a slow moving stop that it all became very real. Rebecca could see, through the front window, an average sized man with a larger than normal head, fancy brown hair and glasses, waiting for the car to completely stop. He smiled as he moved away from view. The door to the car hissed and then clanked open. The man from the window reappeared and extended out his hand while saying through grinning teeth: "Welcome Miss Badeau, to paradise."
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Rebecca stepped out of the rusty steel railcar and into the half-moon shaped room. It was rather large in comparison to the hidden one back at the Southern Point. "Why do you call this paradise?" she asked.
The man who greeted her said: "Because we're free down here. My name is Erich Stiller. I was sent to meet you by Mr. Byrne." Erich closed the door behind Rebecca and showed her toward the door leading out. "I should probably warn you: I'm not the normal guy who escorts Collies around the Vriezen."
"Collies?" Rebecca asked.
Erich laughed uncomfortably and said: "Oh . . . yeah . . . sorry, I forgot. People from The Collective are referred to as ‘Collies'. I've been down here long enough, now, that I forgot people from The Collective don't know these things."
"You're from The Collective?"
"Yeah, actually, that's why Mr. Byrne asked me to meet you. He wanted someone not born down here to show you around. He figured I would be able to help you adjust easier."
Rebecca was unsure what he meant by "adjust". Erich led her out of the station and into a cross-through room that appeared to be more of a closet than anything. There was heavy looking, thick lined, snowsuits hanging along the wall. Erich looked at her and shook his head. "Well, your clothes won't do. That jacket should be warm, but out there," he pointed to the next door, "you'll freeze without a little more." Erich went over to one of the snowsuits and unhooked it. He pulled off the pants and passed it over. He told her to put them on. She slid them over her clothes and bundled up.
"How long have you lived down here?" Rebecca asked.
"Six years. I'm originally from Sector 2. I had tested into the DSA and was assigned to the Department of Statistical Accounting."
"Why did you leave The Collective?" Rebecca asked. She couldn't fathom why a normal person would leave a Ministry controlled sector.
Erich had a look of uncertainty on his face as he tried to explain. "It's kind of a long story. The short of it is that I was accused of treason by my Director."
"Treason?" Rebecca asked. "What for?"
"That's kind of the long part," Erich told her. "I had discovered some . . . errors . . . and when I brought them to his attention, my Director quickly accused me of forging them and I was indicted by the MSF. Luckily I was paired with a girl who worked for the MSF and she learned about it in time to warn me." Erich went over to the door leading outside and said: "It was within no time that I ended up down here." He pressed several buttons on the digital keypad next to the door. There was a hiss of pressure release and the door slid into the wall. A burst of cold wind whipped into the room and against Rebecca's face. Erich wrapped a scarf around his mouth and shouted out: "Shall we?" Rebecca tucked her chin into the collar of her coat and followed behind into the white.
As they stepped into the wintry cold air, Rebecca was shocked to find that they were in the middle of what looked like a city. There were low-laying buildings visible in every direction. But what was most shocking was that they weren't technically outside. Where she expected to find the sky was a very high rock ceiling. She then realized that the city was built inside an oversized cave. There were no streets, just walkways. Another thing that shocked Rebecca was how many people were living there—and how colorful they all were. Having spent her entire life living inside Ministry controlled sectors Rebecca was used to seeing similar, if not the same, uniforms on every person. But there, in the cave city, people were unique in their dress. There were people wearing heavy stuffed coats, people wearing large hooded coats, and people wearing long robe looking coats. No two people looked the same. It was very disorienting. She wanted to ask Erich how people distinguished hierarchal order when everyone dressed differently, but the wind was too cold to expose her mouth and he was walking too fast. Rebecca followed after Erich as he passed several buildings and led her to one that had a sign hanging out over the front door that read Kathy's Kitchen. He walked up to it and led her inside.
The place was no warmer than the outside. The interior appeared to be made entirely out of wood. The walls had wood paneling, the tables and chairs were made of wood, and the counter tops alongside the kitchen were wooden. Even the kitchen door, which swung rather than slid, was made of wood.
Erich led her over to a table and offered a seat. Rebecca thanked him and looked at the other patrons occupying all of the other tables. They were dressed similarly to the ones outside. Each had a unique look. One man was wearing a fur-collared sweater and heavy knitted pants. Another man was wearing a mish-mash of different colored fabrics sewn together in random patterns. He had on thick cotton pants and large black boots. Both men had longer hair, something Rebecca had never seen before. There was a woman serving drinks to a group of people sitting at a table. She had long braided hair, a short buttoned up blue top and a long patterned skirt with some kind of black leggings underneath. Then it suddenly hit Rebecca. Just about every woman in the room had long hair. "This place couldn't be more opposite than the Collective," she said quietly.
Erich smiled and nodded his head. "That's why I chose it. Mr. Byrne wanted me to break you in to our culture here. I figured you would be hu
ngry and thought: ‘Let's kill two birds with one stone.' Everyone living here has a say and everyone is responsible for himself or herself. You can wear whatever clothes you want, you can style your hair anyway you want and you can do whatever job you want. The only thing that is required is that you follow the two most basic rules—don't hurt anyone and don't lie. If you break the rules then you're no longer welcomed." Erich then led her to an empty table.
"There are only two rules?" Rebecca exasperated.
"That shocks you?"
"Yeah, of course. The Collective has thousands of rules. Each was carefully designed by our founding Ministers in order to create the perfect society. So yeah, only two rules sounds awfully under regulated."
Erich simply smiled and said: "I understand your concern. I had thought the same as you. ‘How can a society maintain order under such simplicity?' But the more I lived here, the more I understood just how brilliant the system works. Each man and woman is responsible for him or herself. There are no benchmarks to be met, no goals set, and therefore each individual has no ceiling to their potential. When we place expectations on people they seem to only achieve those expectations and grow no more. Here, in the Vriezen, the only two expectations that are required are the two rules. Simply meeting those expectations is enough. As for the rest, it's up to the individual to decide how far they travel."
Rebecca felt the idea was overwhelmingly flawed. "How does one achieve a high status if nothing is expected of him or her? The Ministry uses regulations and goals in order to maximize the output of a person. They measure each person's potential and develop a goal oriented growth chart based on the study." Rebecca looked for a better way to explain her point. "Simply put, how does one know that another is achieving their full potential?"
"Okay," Erich said, "I see your point, but we cover that here. If you are following the two rules, then you are giving a hundred percent of your potential."
"But how do you know for sure?"
"Because if you weren't then you would be lying."
"But how do you keep people from lying?"
"By not having so many rules," said Erich. "The freedom provided here is not something one takes lightly. It's been decided that the more rules, the more misery, and the less rules, the less misery. People are happy here. No one wants to jeopardize their happiness so therefore everyone works to their fullest potential in order to keep their happiness. Everyone contributes in his or her way."
Rebecca found the concept unimaginable. "Well what if I move here and decide that I don't want to do anything?"
Erich laughed at her. "You wouldn't. One of the things we've learned is that everyone wants to do something. Everyone wants something to be proud of—to achieve something. You would contribute."
"But what if I chose not to?"
"Then you would be lying and therefore not welcomed. Your only option would be to go back to the Ministry's Collective or die. The thing about the Vriezen is that no one can survive alone. We all need each other."
A waitress approached their table and asked what they would like to drink. Erich ordered water and Rebecca did the same. "Why don't you try something else?" Erich challenged. Rebecca didn't know what else there was. The waitress then rattled off a list of about twelve different drinks, each sounding unique next to the other.
"I don't know where to begin," Rebecca said, "there are so many."
"Just bring her water for now," Erich ordered. The waitress smiled and left. "The Ministry leaves you with no other option. Down here, you have the choice."
Rebecca was becoming alarmingly aware that her stay amongst the Heretique was going to require a lot of transitioning.
"I think you'll find," Erich continued, "that the longer you're here, the harder it will be to go back."
Rebecca couldn't have disagreed more. I want to go back now, she thought. Her life in the Ministry was a really good life that was about to get better. Yes, her choices were pretty much decided for her and yes, there weren't options, but at least there was structure and stability. If one person decided they weren't going to go along with the system anymore, nothing would be terribly affected. Down there, however, if a person decided to not cooperate anymore, it could potentially throw off their entire economy, or so she thought.
The waitress returned with their drinks and then asked for their food orders. Rebecca ordered the only thing she knew to order, which was a typical Ministry approved meal.
"I'm sorry," the waitress said, "we don't serve those dishes here."
"What?" Rebecca said in shock.
Erich explained. "Down here, you have choices, but the one choice you don't have is to be a Ministry stooge. That includes the food they eat." He then ordered an eggplant salad. When the attention returned to Rebecca, she simply ordered the same thing. "You're going to have to get used to thinking for yourself," he told her.
Rebecca found the statement somewhat insulting. "I do think for myself."
Erich arched his eyebrows before smiling and nodding. "That's probably why you're down here, with us."
No, Rebecca thought, not seeing his logic, I'm down here because of this stupid book. Rebecca still wanted to right what had gone wrong. "When am I going to see my father?" she demanded.
"I'll take you straight to him once we finish eating. I just wanted you to have the chance to get adjusted before meeting him."
She wasn't sure how much adjusting could be done inside an hour and wondered what Erich's real story was. What he had discovered that ended up getting him indicted and what happened to his female partner in the MSF. "So what can an Accounting Statician possibly find that would get him indicted for treason?"
The happy mood on Erich's face diminished a bit. "I discovered an uneven amount of people testing into the higher tier levels of the Ministry."
"What do you mean?"
"Basically, if you take the amount of jobs available in the top three levels of the Ministry and run them across the average levels of intelligence, you will find that there are plenty of people who qualify for a position in a higher tier, but aren't being given the opportunity."
"Where are they going instead?"
"I didn't know for sure. But they had to be going somewhere. So what I did was look into the growing numbers in other levels and what I found was horrifying."
"What?"
Erich hesitated before saying: "I'm not sure if you're prepared to hear this."
Rebecca wasn't sure either, but she needed to know. "You have to tell me."
". . . I noticed there was a boost in every tier level under the top three, but what struck me the most suspicious was the level of people being admitted into Cognitive Services."
"What?"
"I know, hard to believe, right? But the numbers are there. The one thing staticians learn in the Academy is that numbers are predictable. We can roughly estimate anything. So when there is a rough estimate of ten percent of people should test into the top three tiers, but we know for a fact that there are only enough jobs for two percent, something is wrong."
Erich was right; Rebecca wasn't ready to hear it. "So you're saying that roughly eight percent of the Collective's brightest are being spread out amongst the other tier levels or locked up in Cognitive Services?"
"What I'm saying is that I took this piece of data to my Director and before I knew it I was being indicted for treason."
No wonder, thought Rebecca. One of the main promises made by the Ministry was that every person taking the Cognitive Examination would be placed in a job designed for him or her. They claimed that there was a place for everyone at every intelligence level. "Could your figures be flawed?" Rebecca asked. "Ten percent sounds awfully high."
"Actually," Erich said, "ten percent is falling to the low side. The actual number might be up to twelve percent by now. As we evolve, people are becoming more intelligent. I would expect that number to be around fifteen percent within the next twenty years."
"I'm sorry Erich," said Rebecca with d
isbelief, "but I find it hard to accept that all of these excess bright minds are being sent to Cognitive Services simply because there isn't a job for them in a high tier."
"I'm not saying they are," Erich defended, "I'm just saying that the numbers make sense. Why else would they indict me unless I was on to something?"
"Maybe because you were sounding disloyal to the Ministry."
"If that's the case, then I'm glad to be down here."
"Well what about your partner?" Rebecca asked. "Where is she now that you fled?"
Erich looked away for a second before saying: "She was terminated."
The words hit Rebecca hard. The look in Erich's eyes told her there was pain behind them. "I'm so sorry."
"It was six years ago," he said. "I'm over it."
Rebecca could tell he was breaking one of the rules. "How did they catch her?"
"I still don't know," Erich confessed. "After I left, they detained her. By the time I reached the Vriezen, word had made it to me that she was terminated for treason."
Rebecca was unclear as to how he found that out down in the Vriezen but decided not to ask any more questions, as the pain in Erich's face was obvious. So she decided to change the subject: "Why is it so cold inside? Can't they heat this place?"
"The cold is one of our prices for freedom," Erich said. "We have to keep it cold in order to avoid the Ministry finding us. They've tried using heat sensors from their outer space satellites to locate our settlement. Since we keep it cold here, their attempts are unsuccessful."
It was then that their food arrived. Both sat in silence while they ate. Rebecca was a little taken back by the flavors in her salad and found them unappetizing. She ate about a quarter of it before declaring finished. Erich, on the other hand, ate his whole dish. Soon after that, he paid the waitress with some odd looking coins and led Rebecca to the outdoors. Erich said: "Mr. Byrnes house is only a few blocks west of here."
The Sinner King: Book of Fire Page 29