by A I Zlato
“And that’s not the case?”
“No.”
“What does the Tetrahedron suggest?”
“Continue the surveillance mission, nothing more.
Others are already in charge of that.”
“Servants? Their response was a failure.”
“Not true. They reached their goal.”
“How can you tell?”
“I saw it the first time; they are of the same nature. We will help them at the right time.”
The representative of the Heptagon, who oversaw Servants, felt agitated a bit, but said nothing.
The Spirit separated them. 5th Hexa began to scrape the rock, which had already lost a third of its volume. Granite boulders of all sizes littered the ground... shimmering gray spots on the soft, green lawn.
A mother and her little boy entered the park and approached the kandron. The child ran toward the rock, without fearing the huge animal lying nearby. Edgard turned its head to observe this tiny being. He was very young... too young to break his lifetimes... groups of children... time had nothing to do with... This child here was immune to it... but for how long?
“Look, Mom! The rock is about to become a child again!”
“Rocks are not people, honey; they do not grow. They are neither children nor adults; they are just big rocks.”
“But... look! It is smaller than it was before!”
“The kandron is scratching it and reducing its size at the same time.”
“But why does it do that?”
“It is a kandron. It is impossible to know why they do things.”
“I will ask it.”
“It will not answer you.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s life! Enough with your questions! We have to get going.”
Edgard listened unwillingly to this conversation. The child had interpreted what he saw, and his mother had told him that his reality was wrong, rather than seeking the causes of his interpretation. Typically human... That was it. There it was: the fundamental error Edgard was making vis-à-vis Paul... Everything was clear.
The circle could work with the hybrid; it did not matter. Paul would be the solution.
I stare at the starry sky, lying on the ground.
What if I looked at the ground full of stars, floating on the earthly sky? What if I were the one falling on all those suns, and not them coming down on me?
How does my perception of reality change this reality?
Recollections from Chaacetime
CHAPTER 32
SPACE H. (1ST CIRCLE)
In the kitchen, in front of a hearty breakfast she had not yet tasted, Baley was thinking about the operation she launched the previous day. She was well aware that it was a very radical and violent solution, but she was sure she had made the right choice. They had to solve the Problem at all costs. The news channel was airing endless reports about bereaved families, and the entire city was in shock. It was absolutely necessary to stop this.
Iris interrupted her in her thoughts, as she dragged her feet on the ground as if they were cannonballs. She used the pantry’s processor and found uncannily pleasant to follow its recommendations. She mixed heterogeneous foods, making a barely edible mush. She sat before her mother without a stare. Baley then remembered the promise she had made to Lars to talk to their daughter, and she thought it was the right time; not that there was such a thing as a suitable time to talk to Iris, but the operation was launched and Baley was going to work full-time on it for several days at least. To keep the promise she had made to her husband, it was better to start now — before the deluge of initiatives and not during it.
“Iris, can I talk to you?”
“You are already doing it... but yes, you can.”
“We learned — your father and I — that you have new friends, and that your friends and you went to the Unique Forest. Is that true?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because we are worried about you, you know; we just want to understand.”
“You cannot... In addition, the message was anonymous, and I am surprised you believed the content right away.”
“Are you saying it is not true?”
“I say it does not matter; you worry particularly about appearances.”
“Why are you saying that?”
“What bothers you is that people would comment on my unusual behavior; that I’m not like everybody else; that I do not behave as should. Otherwise, you don’t care.”
“Iris, I...”
“I am saying that... as long as I go to school, I have good grades, the rest is none of your business, and moreover, you don’t care. That’s what counts, right? Appearances? That’s why it bothers you, that someone had supposedly seen me display unusual behavior.”
“You are unfair, Iris. I do not care about appearances. I’m just worried about you. I want you to be happy.”
“Oh, really! You want me to join the ranks of ‘normal’ people, and that I don’t cause you any trouble. And that’s what I’m doing. In appearance. I attend classes, I am a good student, and you did not notice it because you are barely home these days. I no longer turn the music loud, and I no longer use foul language. You see, everything is just fine.”
“I hear your comments. It is true I have been working long hours lately. I am aware of that, but this investigation is important, truly important.”
“As usual.”
“No, really, this time, it’s... OK, let’s talk about something else. I had not noticed the efforts you made, you are right, but thank you. I would still like to know what brought you all the way to the Unique Forest, outside the Machine’s surveillance zone. The pain must have been unbearable. Are your new friends forcing you to do these things?”
After discovering the world of sects, through Chrijulam, Baley was worried that her daughter might also be sinking into a sectarian movement.
“No one is forcing me to do anything, Mom, I assure you. What I do, I do it because I want to. And what I do in my free time is none of your business. I did not break any rules. I go to school to become the best electronic engineer possible, and I say nothing to annoy you and Dad. So everything is alright. You can go back to your investigation. I have to go to class now.”
“Listen, Iris... OK, what you do in your free time is none of my business. It’s just that... my job makes me encounter many ugly things. For example, I did research on a cult, and I’m just afraid that your new friends, who have made you change your behavior so much, are part of that cult.”
“Huh? What is a cult?”
“It is a perverted religious movement. Believers are complete slaves, and they cannot get out of the community of followers. They often believe in absurd things. More importantly, once you get in, you cannot get out.”
“Wow! Your job is really driving you crazy. Do you think my friends are like that? Let me reassure you; this has nothing to do with a cult. I tell you again I do what I do because I want to. So don’t worry. Do not interfere in my life, and I will reciprocate by being your dream daughter. And everyone is happy.”
Baley understood she would not get more from her daughter. She ended the conversation without knowing if Iris was actually going to the Unique Forest, because she had neither confirmed nor denied it. She sent a message to Lars, summarizing this pseudo-conversation. She specified, via her chip, that the message be only delivered when he got home in the evening. There was no urgency, and more importantly, she did not want him to get angry in front of his co-workers, given the message’s content, or rather its lack of content. The only positive thing was that Iris and she had not really argued. Talk about success! Her daughter had only calmly but firmly ruled Baley out of her life. Baley understood quite well this longing for independence; however, she felt bad when she heard that her daughter believed only appearances mattered for her parents. Also worried, she pondered again whether Iris was part of a cult. On that subject, perhaps her daughter was right; perhaps he
r joy was encroaching too much on her personal life. Would she have worried about this topic one week earlier? She filed that question in her chip archives to make room in her mind. She would access it later to discuss it in depth with Lars. For now, she had other concerns, the investigation was Priority No.1, and the whole city was concerned and would be affected by the results of her action plan. Iris would wait Lars would wait. Both would have to wait.
Baley left the apartment right after Iris did. While the latter was heading to the Second Circle, Baley took the opposite direction toward the Tower. She had nothing to do there, especially now that the operation was in progress. She had to spend time finding something to do, while waiting for the first reports to be published. Once in the hall, she did not ask for access to the first floor, which would probably have been refused as she had no new information nor any request to make. She passed by columns, headed toward Level -1, and chose a chair. She sat comfortably, in anticipation of the long wait that was looming, and pulled the cable to log in, requesting access to general data. Although they were accessible to everybody, so few people bothered to check the database, preferring to wait a few hours so the news channel, and more importantly, journalists could transcribe the data to them in a format that was easily understandable. Baley instead loved raw data — devoid of human interpretation; the results of instructions, programs and sometimes threads. She did not always understand the meaning, but these data, she was sure, chronicled in detail the life of the city. For an hour, she received no specific information, and she listened distractedly to the metallic voice disseminating the data. Information about temperature, the evolution of the animal population, species by species, the air quality, the level of sunshine... all these data bits scrolled without drawing her attention. Time seems so long when one is expecting something. That gave her the chance to ponder some things. Had she made the right choice? Had she planned everything? What would be the collateral damage? Fortunately, all those questions were only in the margins of her mind, and were rapidly sucked into that dark spot in her brain that had emerged the previous day. Baley had asked the Machine to erase... she could not recall what exactly. She only remembered that she now had a pragmatic and constructive mind; exactly what she needed for the investigation. About the investigation, come to think of it... and her extraction request... Because that was the core of the matter: to extract; to remove children from their families in order to protect them. Yes, to protect them; that was the only thing that was important; nothing else.
Finally, a signal in her chip was indicating incoming messages, of which she was the only recipient. Data on the extraction started coming in. Special agents assigned to the mission were filing reports, indicating the names of the children transferred to the South-D5 building. So far, everything was going according to plan; teachers were letting children go in compliance with the City Safety ordinance, and youngsters were not asking too many questions. For now, protection squads were standing guard around the building. They indicated no particular problem, only a few onlookers stopping before the deployment of forces around the building. Baley knew it would not take long before one of those onlookers, seeking a moment of personal glory, would contact the news channel, claiming to hold information of the utmost importance and probably assigning to himself or herself an imaginary role. She only hoped that her teams would have time to get all the children, secure the building, and protect the parents, by locking their communication access, before any mishap occurred.
She burrowed carefully into all reports, and compared the list of children who entered the secured building with the list she had gathered with the Machine. Two children were removed from their school but had not yet arrived. She sent a message to the agents responsible for escorting the children, and waited in anguish, reviewing all possible disaster scenarios. It took a minute, which seemed interminable, to get an answer, which indicated that the youngsters had just arrived. She almost shouted a request for explanation on the delay, and how it was possible to be tardy in an operation of this scale, and what caused the lateness... She changed her mind, given the futility of her anger and the irrelevance of the answers to her questions. The group of children was now complete, and the carefully selected team of teachers could take over. They had to bring the children gently out of their perverted belief system. The first step was to make them comfortable, reassure them, and tell them that their daily life would not be so different, that courses would be similar to those they use to have at school... that everything would be the same as before, with the notable exception that they would be unable to go home and see their parents. The protection squad sent a signal, indicating that it had completed the deployment around the building, especially in front of each access area. The report also indicated that communication through children’s chips was now off. The little ones were now cut off from the rest of the city as expected.
Baley knew that problems would arise when teams would be assigned around parents’ homes, as they would need to explain what was going on, doing so in the best possible way so they could remain calm. Was there in any case a good way to announce the forced ‘extraction’ of one’s child? She felt increased anxiety. She was helpless; she could do nothing but to wait and trust the teams.
Suddenly, a breaking-news item erupted in the data stream. She asked her chip to project the news channel, and footage about the South-D5 building appeared. The reporter announced:
“A priority operation codenamed City Safety was launched this morning. 100 children were taken to this building. The Machine has confirmed that this was a preventive measure against the Problem, but would not release precise criteria about child selection, simply saying that they displayed a high probability of being at risk. Will we finally see the end of these atrocities? Has it identified their common denominator? Has it found out how to prevent the Problem? The whole city is seeking more information, given all the messages we are receiving, and this is normal. As parents, we all worry terribly about our children, and we expect the Machine to do what it was designed to do; to preserve the Equilibrium. Will the operation launched this morning be the Machine’s solution? At this time, I can only speculate. Right now, our teams of reporters are trying to reach parents to know their feelings and to determine the commonality among their children, and to try to understand.
Meanwhile, here is a synopsis of the facts. The Problem arose several months ago among children that apparently had no problem, all aged 11-13. No one knows what caused these youngsters, all of whom were aged 11-13, to commit the irreparable. The number of concerned children has for each case increased, and so has the number of broken families, a combination that cast a sword of Damocles over the entire city. It is probably the biggest crisis that our space had experienced since its creation...
One of our reporters, Greg Sulliman, managed to contact Mrs. Elizabeth Sofar...”
Baley felt her heart jumping out of her chest when she heard the name Elizabeth. The journalist did have to contact a woman she had interviewed! If, under the reporter’s deluge of questions, Elizabeth ever made the connection between Baley’s visit and her questions about religion, people would make the connection in the city much earlier than she had imagined. Baley listened anxiously to the rest of the report.
“...whose two children, Sarah and Maxim, were sent to the building behind me. So, Greg, how is she coping with this situation?”
“It is very difficult to get close to the parents of children who were taken this morning, because a strict protection squad surrounds the perimeters. I was nonetheless able to exchange a few words, via chip, with Elizabeth before the Machine turned off the signal. Elizabeth and her family moved two years ago to a pioneering area; she and her husband are working to build a new circle. She does not understand what is happening. She has had no news of her children since they left for school this morning. She visibly is not allowed to talk to them, and does not know how long the crisis will last; however, the person I’ve talked to is a strong and determine
d woman, who told me that if this ‘extraction’ was the solution to the Problem, she was willing to endure the separation. She only wishes to get periodic updates about her two children to make sure they are doing fine.”
“Did she really have no idea why her children were... well... selected?”
“Even if she had suspicions, she did not tell me anything. Remember that the Machine cut off all communication, and I have been unable to ask further questions. The message she wanted to convey to the city was that she was worried for her children.”
“It is very normal, very normal... and you also managed to contact her husband, John, is that right?”
“That is right. Unlike his wife, he immediately shared his opinion on the subject, and he is very angry. He thinks the kidnapping, as he calls it, follows the visit of one of the First Circle’s special agents...”
“Here we go,” Baley said to herself. How was it possible that this reporter could contact the Sofars? Someone needs to answer for this.
“...who asked them intrusive questions about their religious beliefs. He thinks that this is discrimination.”
“And what do you think? Have other parents confirmed his theory?”
“The Machine is denying connections. There is no way to join them at this moment. We can only rely on the statements by the Machine... that does not say much about the current issue. I intend to contact the special agent in charge of the operation.”
“Greg, we count on you to get us that interview, because city residents have the right to know what is happening. For those who have ust joined us, let me remind you that a major operation, codenamed City Safety, was launched this morning by order of the Machine. Many children were removed from their classrooms and taken to a building...”
Baley turned off the news channel. It was time. She would need to provide answers to the entire city about her decision. She took several deep breaths, and reviewed remarks she had prepared throughout her sleepless night. It was her responsibility, as the special agent in charge of the Problem who had launched the operation, to explain what was happening to all Space H. residents.