Parallel Worlds- Equilibrium in Threat

by A I Zlato

  As she heard her name, she stepped forward and onto the platform. There, before all her friends, and in front of her parents and other parents who waited behind students, she read. Her hand on the membrane, she watched the laconic message. What was the best? What would she have to follow with enthusiasm? The translucent plate announced that she had been assigned to the Second Circle. Before she could understand the significance of what she had just read, she had already stepped off the platform. With her head down, she went toward the bubble where surgeons were standing by. Within moments, they withdrew the temporary chip she had worn since birth, to transplant the permanent, lesser-quality chip. At the first digital pulse, she noticed the difference. She no longer was part of those who were closer to the Machine.

  An electronic gate prevented access to information to which she had access before. She belonged to the Second Circle, now and forever. She went home, with her new chip, without a word. Second Circle... Her parents made no remark, no comment, but she knew they were disappointed. She had not set herself up at their level; she had somehow received a demotion. Second Circle. A lesser-quality chip. Second Circle.

  Yes, her first feeling of rebellion emerged that day.

  Since then, her life had only shrunk. She had received, a little later, word of her job assignment. Indifferent, she had learned she would become an electronic engineer. Her parents pretended they were happy about the job, but she knew better. She had often overhead conversations between them, during which her father complained about the work of electronic engineers. For him, they were nothing but suppliers of raw materials for his own work. On top of that, they were producing inadequate parts at best, flawed at worst. That was what she was going to become, a supplier people like her father would constantly complain about.

  Her life was limited to the school in the electronics department where she had been relegated. She felt desperate, thinking that she would spend her entire life making motherboards, microprocessors and other electronic components for the metallic box. She took courses like a robot, taking notes, studying, and forgetting the lessons immediately after. There had to be something better than that life. There had to be! So she tried again and again to talk to her parents, to convince them, but in vain.

  Each discussion would turn more violent than the previous, and she would take refuge in her room, as she was doing now. The black ceiling epitomized her future. With no exit. Her parents told her to accept her destiny, to follow the trail blazed for her, to explore all that life could offer her. They told her that she had the ability to make choices. She did not see things their way. To submit, to accept meant denying her own self. She would rather die like those children, whose suicides the news media were covering nonstop. At least, they had some type of courage she did not possess... To die rather than give up.

  Although she had no idea why they killed themselves, she found the gesture beautiful and scary. No, she was not that strong. She would continue to go every day to a school she hated, mingling with youngsters she despised. They were all happy about their assignment, convinced that the Machine had chosen what was best for them. The wanted to follow the order of things, while she dreamed of a different life; a life she could decide. Nonetheless, she did not have the courage to make that choice; the ultimate choice; the choice of dying. Not only was she unattractive, unhappy, relegated to the Second Circle, but she was also a coward.

  Her only act of rebellion was spending her free time with the gang of Fighter. He was an older boy who coalesced with teenagers who saw themselves as marginal to society. Fighter, or whatever his real name was, had approached her when classes were over. That day, she had waited for all students to leave before knocking her fist on the ground wall, making herself bleed. She needed to release her anger, without anyone seeing, to convey her rage toward herself. She hated herself for not being courageous enough to defy the system. She only had rebellious words; that was all. She had no courage, and she wished she had. So, she had to hit that wall; this barrier that held her prisoner. The searing pain had not abated. She hit, and hit more. When she finally stopped, barely breathing, fingers bleeding, Fighter was by her side. Iris first had stepped back, fearing that mountain of muscles. He was not really tall, but his broad shoulders and his fit body made him look impressive.

  His piercing eyes had stared at her. Without a word, he handed her a bottle of vodka. At first, she thought he was proposing a toast to help her forget her pain, and was about to start drinking. He stopped her, saying it was particularly tasteless alcohol to drink, but very effective in disinfecting wounds. Ashamed of her earlier gesture, Iris then poured some liquor in one palm. She wanted to play ‘tough girl’ and hold back tears, but the alcohol bite was too strong. While crying, she undertook the same process on the other hand. Although she expected the pain, she grinned. Instead of making fun of her, Fighter looked away until she could regain her composure.

  When she dried her tears and got herself back, he handed her a piece of clothing to bandage her hands. He did not ask her why she did what she did; he simply helped her without judging. Iris then had seen in him someone very different from everyone she knew. When he then offered her to be part of his gang, she immediately accepted without even knowing what membership meant. Without talking much, he left her alone, her hands on fire, but she had a semblance of hope she had not had in a long time.

  The next day, she waited impatiently for classes to be over. She waited by the wall, where she had met him. After the students had left the school, she remained there alone for a long time. She started feeling more uncomfortable the longer she stayed there. Nobody came. She went home sad, thinking she should have asked him how to find him again. Instead, dumb as she was, she had let him go.

  She had waited every day of the week late into the evening. Every night, upon returning home, she had faced the anger of her father, irate at her delay. She had not even bothered to argue back. She thought joining Fighter’s group was something unexpected but worth pursuing. Perhaps he had simply forgotten her; she was so insignificant. Still, she had waited again and again, clinging to the recollection of their initial meeting.

  Her perseverance had finally paid off. When she was about to forget it all and leave, he came. She had been waiting for an hour near the wall, mulling over her melancholy. He appeared at the corner of the avenue, with several young people behind him. They waited for him, hidden in the darkness, while he approached her. He did not try to explain why he had been absent the last few days, and Iris did not dare ask. She only ventured a question about what he and his gang were planning to do. He replied they were going to the Unique Forest. The Unique Forest?!!! Oh, yes... far from the Machine.

  She agreed to follow them, both thrilled and scared. She followed Fighter and the rest of his group without having been introduced. Under his tutelage, she was already a member. She did not know them, not even their names, and yet she joined them without hesitation. They hopped on a rail and crossed different circles all the way to the periphery, as close as possible to the city’s end. Iris had never gone that far away from home. While on the rail, she watched the landscape change, and buildings decrease in size, and become more spaced out. It was simply wonderful to see these transformations. While going down, she felt the control of the Machine diminish. What a feeling of freedom! She had discovered another universe. From here, the Tower resembled a black pin, still threatening but distant. The few people who were commuting in the vast aisles had no personal chip; humans who were not enslaved...

  She had seen these strange single-family houses, and the greenery around them. Iris had never seen so many trees, so many flowers, except in the parks she had been in when she was younger. Nature was an integral part of the landscape there, unlike in her usual habitat. Instead of the incessant noise of the crowd, she heard birds singing. She stared in wonder at this new universe without venturing too far from Fighter. He kept going to get out of the city. She felt alive. Instead of the gaping hole of sadness she had felt in
the chest for so long, she had inflated her lungs to fill them with that feeling of freedom, the happiness that was hers; only hers! While still admiring the surrounding beauty, she was startled when a kandron abruptly emerged in front of her.

  A kandron! She had seen one before from a distance flying well above the buildings. She knew that some of them went to the Tower, because her mother had talked about them with contempt. Her parents refused to see these creatures as anything but a gigantic animal, and did not understand why the Machine had an interest in them. Iris had always thought they were beautiful, and that they had to be fascinating creatures.

  There in front of her was one of those animals. It was even more beautiful than what she had imagined. Lying near a house, it stood up when she got nearer. Its copper-colored coat glistened as it moved. It lay on its two lower legs and tail, stretching its muscular body. Like a swan, it deployed its neck majestically, and turned its head toward her. She, the insignificant girl, had caught its attention. It stretched its huge wings before folding them along his body into a compact mass in a straight manner. She was impressed. The fascination pushed her to overcome her fear and approach the animal. Of course, she knew at that moment that it would not talk to her, but she still managed to say, “Hello!”

  Without waiting for an answer, she still hoped it would understand her greeting.

  “Hello, beautiful kandron!” she said again.

  Around her, she felt something like an electromagnetic current... a biological one.

  She had already experienced in class the electromagnetic field of a coil replete with electricity. But this was something else; it was the animal generating this powerful field. Every living being produced an electromagnetic field, but it was not directly noticeable. The field power she felt there was staggering. The field was... strange, as if it cut the kandron off from everything else. The animal was there, but at the same time seemed to be in another dimension. Iris did not understand what that meant, but for the first time in many years, she felt intense joy.

  She was happy to see and feel something that was not expected, something the Machine had not planned for her, an unknown occurrence. She reached out tentatively to touch the kandron with her finger. She stepped forward slowly, not to frighten it, and especially to show her peaceful intentions. The animal blinked, and Iris felt the electromagnetic field strengthening, and expanding to push her away. It looked her straight in the eyes, as if it wanted to tell her not to penetrate its universe. She stood there frozen, feeling on her face the powerful current which isolated the kandron.

  What was the reality that it would not share with her; this universe in which it would not welcome her? She realized that it was not sunlight that made the kandron’s coat shine but rather the mysterious magnetic halo. On the edge of her consciousness, she felt that she feared something nobody had ever told her. Kandrons did not really live in the same universe as humans. There was... she could not exactly tell.

  Fighter brought her back from her reveries, taking her by the arm. Their adventure would continue elsewhere. She walked away, and felt (more than saw) the electromagnetic aura covering the creature as a defense shield. The kandron’s universe closed in on itself.

  He brought her beyond the houses and into the prairie that preceded the Unique Forest. They all strolled in silence at a determined pace, their backs facing the houses in front of the expansive greenery. The grassy area, flat at first, became thicker, taller and bushier. Walking at a light pace on the city’s outskirts, Iris had difficulty finding her way, spreading plant stalks with her hands to chart a path. She had followed the others with difficulty, and they were significantly ahead of her.

  Briars had scratched her legs, and she regretted wearing high heels. Yet she would not let the group get too far ahead, or worse, go back home. Despite legs on fire and weakened ankles, she soldiered on.

  Suddenly, the chip was silent. The Tower was too far... she knew this moment would be coming; she knew she would suffer, but at least she had hoped she would be happy to enjoy that freedom. Instead, she felt a great void that made her panic. The absence of the Machine translated instantly into an unbearable pain that was more intense than anything she had experienced so far, far more excruciating that she had imagined. Her anguish was such that she remained stuck on the spot, unable to move, incapable of joining the rest of the group.

  She felt nothing but pain and panic, not knowing what to do, unable to think. The pain had spread in her head, and flowed in her veins like an icy wave. She lost sight of the others, and was alone in the middle of vacant land, which was surrounded by expansive, thick grass. Her whole being wanted the Machine, pleading for a connection.

  Her distraught stare eventually met Fighter. He was always by her side, talking to her. When had he come back? How long had she been there, halted in her journey? His voice seemed so distant, yet she was comfortable clinging to it. He had a soft, warm voice; a reassuring tone. He talked to her about withdrawing from the Machine’s sphere of influence, a withdrawal full of pain, which, fortunately, would abate over time. To enjoy freedom, one had to undergo such agonizing treatment. He told her she would get used to it; she would learn to cope with the pain. Soon, this episode would become a bad memory. She really wanted to believe him, but the pain she was enduring was indescribable. She felt cold while sweating; all her cells needed the Machine. She passed out.

  He took her in his arms, and returned to the city. Iris’s chip became active again. With this connection, she came back to life. She wanted to get back on her feet. Her whole body shook, owing to the shock she had just suffered. Receiving a new data flow in her chip was a relief, and at the same time a profound sense of failure.

  The pain had abated, but she still felt its presence. She had not managed to get rid of the Machine; she was its slave forever. The metal box was her drug. Iris hated it, but she could not do without it. Tears of bitterness flowed down her cheeks.

  The Unique Forest — so beautiful, so wild, so remote — was forever inaccessible.

  “This is a normal reaction, Iris. Don’t worry about it. Next time, you can get away from it for a little longer. Soon, you will be able to go in the Unique Forest with us,” said Fighter.

  “This damn metal box! Ouch! I want to try again!”

  “You are not strong yet, and this could blow your brains... make you crazy or turn you into a veggie. For your first ride, you have already endured more than any of us had.”

  The others nodded in silence. She was still disappointed, and felt sorry for having prevented them from reaching their goal. Her lack of courage had compelled all of them to go back to the starting line. She hated herself more than she did the Machine. She had wanted to show them that she could do it, and started walking, still shaken. She felt panic because her chip had turned off, and cried with rage. She hit the ground with her fist, watching the trees, so near and yet so far. Fighter brought her back to her feet and pushed her gently toward the houses.

  “Iris,” he said, “I assure you that you were much stronger than all of us were. Be patient. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

  She looked at the other members. Contrary to what she had thought, they looked back with admiration. There had been no anger or frustration in their eyes. Iris then experienced a strange feeling. A feeling of belonging; yes, that was it. She had the impression of being part of this group, which she had met just a few hours earlier. She had passed the rite of passage, and a new horizon awoke in front of her. She stood up, more determined than ever. She peeked once more at the forest, promising herself she would reach it next time.

  In silence, they all went back to the city. The periphery was quiet; most people were already home, as one could see through the lit windows. On her way, Iris admired the sleeping kandron. Yet it had opened its eyes when they were passing by, and Iris gave it a cheerful stare back. This animal was part of a universe that would soon be hers. Soon, she could withstand the absence of the Machine; she was sure about it. Now that sh
e had found people like her, who embraced her as a group member, she would reach her goal. She would then be able to see that gorgeous kandron again, and get closer to it.

  The trip back home was a nightmare. As the rail was getting nearer to its destination, the chip’s signal became stronger and stronger; so strong it could take hold of every inch of her being. The Machine had launched its net and was encircling her again. Nonetheless, she knew another world existed outside the Machine’s sphere of influence; a world she could soon reach.

  Fighter had told her that with some training, she would be able to maintain a bubble of consciousness undetectable by the chip, containing all her free personality and recollections of the Unique Forest. Despite his assertion, she felt an artificial leech, like a poison, pouring across her brain, and she then felt cold anger.

  Going forward, she would only live in the expectation of future trips with Fighter — that was her real life. The rest, school, her parents... they would be nothing but necessary nuisance. She hoped that, one day, those obligations would also disappear... forever.

  In her room, her stare focused on the black ceiling. After yet another argument with her parents, Iris clung again to her memories. Another future was possible; now she knew.

  Knowing prevents learning.

  Learning does not mean knowing.

  Learning to know is a path toward Truth.

  Lessons from Chaacetime

  CHAPTER 9

  SPACE H. (PERIPHERY)

  Paul came home depressed. Instead of a full day of questioning, reflection and work on the Earliest Space, he had seen what the work of a special agent was all about. There was an unbridgeable gulf between the world of investigation and his. In his professional universe, people around him shared his passion. In his universe, there were splendid manuscripts. In his universe, there was Edgard. In Baley’s world, there was nothing but investigations. In her world, one had to be effective and pragmatic. In her world, there were dead children.