Pygmalion pauses and tucks his hands behind his back. “If we remembered what we did? It might destroy us. All we know is that as long as the memory of those days is gone, no one can be held responsible. The knowledge, the memory of it, would change who we are as a people. Why? Because memory defines what we are as well as how we perceive those around us.” He walks back toward the desk and sits down, heaving a heavy breath. “I’ve had many years to think about that.”
“And you can live with those answers?” I ask. My face feels like it’s been soaking in a bowl of hot water.
“Can I live with them?” He looks away, to the wall. “I have. For years. For decades. After all, it was due to just that ability that I was chosen by the last director. While jobs are chosen almost entirely by the council, there is one single job outside their jurisdiction. Only the director can choose his successor. Only we have the knowledge necessary to make the decision.”
By this point my hands are shaking. I can feel them trembling on my knees, and I look down, trying to stop them. I can’t deal. “This is so sick, man. You’re just up here living in this luxury getting anything you want, and you… you just watch these things, like they’re nothing! These Reinforcements. These people dying on the Scavenging. You never try and stop it.”
“Throw the Tower out of balance, and the Tower falls,” he says. “Even I am a prisoner of another sort. I cannot usually intervene in the actions of the Tower. That’s why there is a council. They perform the Reinforcements for the people of Level 1, they run the Scavenging to entertain the Tower, and so on. They come to me mostly for counsel with novel situations. That is my purpose, my function, in this tower. Everyone’s knowledge is limited as much as possible to their circumstances. I am the only one whose knowledge is broad, and so, when circumstances are new or unique, they send me a request.” He taps the desk in front of him, and a keyboard appears, shining with light through the white surface. “They don’t even bother to come see me. They simply send a request by mail. During the last Category 2 Incident, they asked me how to contain it. During this one with Sally, they again came to me. I recommended working with you and even suggested your father’s plan to them. A director is expected to have just a slight capacity for prediction.”
He pauses, laughing. “When Abbott didn’t know whether to concede to your father’s demands, they allowed me to make the call. As you can see, I’m quite the novelty piece. You are, in fact, my first physical visitor in many years. I am known only to a few, and even they view me with suspicion and fear. They especially fear me when I decide to intervene, and that fear is so great it could easily tip the balance on Floor 1. Yet they know it is their role to bend to me. However, ask them to bend too much, and the relationship between the council and I would break.”
“Fine, I get it. You’re some supersecret observer that has to act like a backup because everyone else is so stuck in their own roles or work that they can’t figure out how to react to new circumstances. God, it’s like taking care of children. So, why am I really here then? Why did you call me up? What, are you choosing me as the new director or something?”
“You?” He laughs really loud at the suggestion. Insultingly loud. “Do you really think you could keep all this a secret?”
The director’s got me there. “Well, no. I might be able to do it for… I dunno… a year?”
“I doubt even that, Jackie. No, what you are here for is something else. You are here because we’ve had two Category 2 Incidents almost a year apart from each other. They’re becoming more frequent.” He stops and looks down at the desk, his eyes dancing around for a second. “No. That’s a lie. That’s not the reason. It’s just an excuse I’m telling myself, and you.”
“Okay. Well, what then? You just want someone to talk to or something?”
“Not at all.” His words are coming slowly. Seriously, I think he’s about to tell me he’s about to have a heart attack or something, and I clutch up for a second. “The reason you’re here is because I’m going to grant your request.” Edward’s eyes crawl back up to mine. “I’ve chosen you to be a Scavenger.”
“What?” In my head the words echo around like they’re being blasted through a megaphone. “You want me to do what… ?”
“I saw you fighting, Jackie. For someone with such little training, your natural skill is exceptional. Your mind is incredibly sharp and can potentially rival your father’s. The Scavengers need that.” His hand lifts up, and he sighs. “And things will have to change. The Scavenging will have to change. I’ll sell that to the council, though. I’ll tell them that the reason we’re changing the Scavenging is because we need new ways of entertaining the population, especially on Floor 1. We’re going to shift the Scavenging’s focus from reclaiming material from the lower floors to exploration. To going as deep down Tower Pisa as possible.”
For a minute I just sit there, looking at this guy. He’s just freaking me out now. So, I’m sounding like a broken record, but what else am I supposed to ask? “Why are you doing this?” is about all I can manage at first. Like I’m an idiot. “I just, I can’t… You just got done telling me all this stuff about how you can’t tip the balance, can’t destroy the institution, this Tower shall not fall, blah blah blah. Now you’re completely changing the direction.”
Pygmalion smiles, pointing to me. “I also told you that memories make us. Memories are the most powerful form of knowledge. And that, in the end, there will be those who are unbothered by the sins they are guilty of, and those who are.”
“Right. So…”
“So, the man that I was when I became director was content with holding the bloody knife. The man I have become, and his many years of knowledge and observations, is not.”
I just stare at him from across the table, and there’s just this tiny… and I mean miniscule… part of me that starts to feel bad for him. “So, what you’ve learned changed who you are.”
“And what I’ve seen. Because all I’ve seen, all those memories, have created the man that stands before you.” He laughs. “I’ve spent decades watching the world. Now, before the end, I want to impact it, even if that impact is small. The director I choose to follow me may learn from what I have done. The memories of my actions may help mold him into a different man than I. Hopefully a man with a bit more boldness that I lack.”
“So, what is it you want me to do?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Pygmalion gets this devilish smile on his face. “I want you to get out. It’s the only way I know of that could change the Tower without destroying it. If we knew there was an escape.”
“And if we can’t?” I ask, thinking back on how hard it was to take Sally down.
“Then I suppose we’ll just continue on like we always have. For as long as possible.”
There’s no easy way to react to this. He’s offering me something I’ve wanted my entire life, but that was before I knew it was just entertainment for a bunch of snot-nosed rich jerks on Floor 1. Plus, how do I even know I can trust this guy?
Thing is, I know there’s only one answer.
“Fine,” I say, looking up at the ceiling and hoping I’m not nuts for agreeing. “I’ll do it.”
“I knew you would,” he says, bowing his head. “As I said, it is part of my job to be predictive, although there was always a slight doubt.”