Cecil, the earless, furiously hacks at the letters on the board. The girl with the red hair on the screen speaks with a sweet voice and smiles. The gruff boy mirrors her expression and they both walk away from one another in different directions.
A clicking sound showcases a circular podium. On it appears to be some sort of yellow substance with tiny round purple balls and a large bottle. Asorra walks over to it, removes the tray, and watches the podium retract.
“Well done Asorra, enjoy a treat on my behalf,” an invisible voice says.
Asorra rolls her eyes and lifts the tray in the air. “Cecil, take this to the common room and share it with the others.” Cecil’s eyes brighten and he gently removes the tray from her grasps, then like hungry animals all of them flock towards the door, shoving and pushing one another.
Asorra turns her attention back to the blank screen and says nothing. “What’s all of this?” I ask.
She doesn’t look at me when she answers, but goes around clicking various buttons at the twelve stations. “In Serenity the high councilor and his wife believe that the inhabitants need guidance. After the Great Cleanse, the adults were too stuck in there ways. So they waited until they had children and killed their parents.” Asorra slumps into a chair. Good thing I told Purity not to struggle. “The perfect babies remained on top, the defects were sent down here to die. Many of them did.” Asorra rubs her face. “My mother created this underground haven, and saved the babies. I am the imperfect daughter of the High Councilor. My relation to him is the only reason I’m alive.”
“Whatever you write, they have to follow?” I ask her.
“Yes, they hear the command. Every morning when they wake-up their scripts are automatically downloaded. Their actions, conversations, and reactions are all written by me. If they do not comply their brain will receive a small electrical shock that is highly painful.” Asorra rubs her hands together and looks away. There is absolutely nothing to say about this, so I just shake my head. “There are five separate cities. The one you just saw is known as Dance City, it’s where all the entertainers live.” Asorra clicks a button, and a screen showing both men and woman walking hastily, in white suits, to large buildings, appears. “There is the Business City, where all the pointless companies exist.” Another screen showcases walls of gardens and people walking around with boards in their hands. “Nutrition City, these people mess around with our food.” Another screen appears that resembles the scientist room from Horizon. “Innovation City, all the brains and their families live here.” Asorra clicks the button again and a white room filled with boxes that healed Purity, light the screen.” Medical City, doctors and scientist live here.” One more screen appears showing people laughing with cups in their hands. They sit in a colorful low lit room. “This is the high society town. The high councilor chooses who he wants to release from the program and they become his friends.”
I walk around the room gauging the foreign buttons and blinking screens. There is a big red button that says emergency stop on it and I walk by trying not to appear evident. These worlds are pure madness.
Something she said earlier surfaces through the hysteria of information. “Does the High Councilor know about the others?”
“Maybe,” she answers. “If he does, he doesn’t let on.” Asorra nears me. “They keep me too busy to spy on them.” Her face hardens and she slaps me on the arm like Mama used to do. I rub it and smile at the similarity. “Then you show up and force me to write a script for another person. Now I have to write reactions and explanations for the new comer and give him a job.”
“Is that why you are boiling over, because of something new?” I ask. “You should be thanking me for mixing it up.”
Asorra scowls at me without saying a word. Her face is getting so red that I almost mistake her for a delicious apple. She walks over to a door and it opens. She enters what looks like a bedroom. There isn’t any time for politeness or privacy; I need to find a way to shut down this system, and get us out of here. So I burry all manors and walk in behind her. Along the wall are cans similar to the one Cecil took.
“I need to get out of here,” I say, while inching over to the stack of food. “There are people depending on me to help them. Their homes are being devastated by earthquakes.”
Asorra nearly burns a whole in my head with her eyes. “There’s no way out.” She turns and walks back to the door. Just as she pauses, I snatch a can and put it in my pocket. Asorra’s annoyed expression and waving hands drive me out of the door. I don’t believe her. If she won’t help, I’m sure there is someone who will tell me how to get out of here in exchange for a can of satiation.
Chapter 11
I find Cecil and the others in yet another white room that has four silver tables. They devour the yellow substance like it is the last meal they’ll ever have. Some of them give me hard looks. No need to worry I am not here to take their food; even though a meal sounds really good right now.
“Cecil?” I said stopping behind him. The man turns his good ear towards me. “I need some help.”
Cecil turns back to the others. “We all need help.”
Full of patience, I lethargically pull out the food and wave it in the air. “If you help me, I’ll feed you.” Then I lower it. “Maybe I should give it to one of them.”
Cecil pops out of his chair and tries to snatch the can from my hand. I quickly grab a hold of his wrist and bend it in a painful manner. He cries out and the others shrink away from us. “I will do it, whatever you need, please let me go.”
Causing agony was not my plan, and the bitter taste that pools in my mouth suggest I’m going about this the wrong way. I want to help them as much as I need their help. Forcing them to do my bidding is not my intention. I withdraw my hold and place the food into his hand. His body is shaking. I fall to my knees and place my hands on my thighs; it is the only way I can think of that truly expresses my regret. “Forgive me Cecil, I did not mean to harm you.” I bow my head. “I forgot for a moment that you too are a captive.” I raise my eyes to him. “I sincerely wish to leave this place and I need your help to do so.”
A woman who is missing her right arm steps next to Cecil. “The only way out is the way you came in.” She holds her only hand out to me. “That is a twenty foot drop and the sides are sprayed with an oil substance. No one ever gets out.” I allow the woman to help me to my feet.
“The High Councilor and his friends have eyes everywhere. There are sensors and traps that my systems do not even map,” Cecil adds. “They will kill us.”
If I remain in this pseudo white light that is merely masking the horned beast, I’ll die as well. So this is how it’s going to be. “I rather die doing something, than die doing nothing.” I move closer to them. “I am a being of the Universe. God gives me love, God gives me life, and God wishes I maintain health in his home.” I hold out my hands for Cecil and the woman to take. “I live for God’s Universe. Who will you live for?”
“There is no such thing as God,” Cecil says.
I smile at them. “A few days ago I would have agreed with you. God very much exists; it’s just not in the way we want it to be. God’s Universe has given me all that I need to achieve; it’s the people around me that have blocked my vision.” I place my hands over my heart, it beats strong and free. Until this moment, I was still a little unsure of the words in my head, but now that the words are out, now I know the truth.