Guide Stones

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. It was a very small window—from the ancient book her grandfather had given her, she wondered if it was what had been called a ‘clerestory’ window, whatever that meant—and she had to stand on a chair to see out of it, but this was the last place in the colony where she could look out, and this apartment had become hers yesterday when her grandfather, her only living kin, passed. She peered out through the dirty glass. She missed her grandfather and this way she felt a bit closer to him.

The view was of an ancient ruined building, perhaps more than one building. She saw broken bits of material, a giant letter A lying on the ground, and something that looked as if it might have been a B but backwards. Both seemed to be attached to a frame of some kind, but she could only see part of it. She wondered if the ruin had once been a school or perhaps the headquarters of an encyclopedia. She knew about schools and encyclopedias because her grandfather had studied the Before Time. He was a scientist and he studied just about everything.

There was of course no question of going outside. Every child learned that from scripture. In the Before Time, man’s wanton abuse of nature had all but destroyed nature, then, in the fight between nations for scarce resources, the nuclear radiation wars scorched the soil and killed most of the people. Only the few colonies were left, scattered across the world that once was. She did not know the number of colonies; hers was called simply “S1 Home.” Was there an S2 Home? She did not know. That knowledge was for the Masters. Really, when it came down to it, she mused, the only thing left was their faith. This kept them together, huddled in the semi-dark, the remnants of a once densely populated world.

The bell rang and the familiar music played, calling all residents to worship. She joined the assembly in the Great Room. An acolyte carefully drew back the curtain shielding the statues of The Matriarchs, the Faceless Warriors of the Feline Order, long-ago protectors from the Battle of the Before Time. All in the Assembly bowed and touched their foreheads reverently. As always, the Master of the colony, with his pink fluorescent vestments, conducted the service. “Let us honor the wisdom of the Ten Commandments,” he began solemnly, “those precepts that wise Moses used to guide the Israelites to the Promised Land. With the Ten Commandments they survived the ordeal of the desert. The Stone Tablets were destroyed by evil men, but we safeguard the words. With the same Commandments, we of S1, and the people of the other Homes, survive in the desert of this world. We are the chosen people, and by keeping to the Commandments we will be brought to the promised land.” Murmurs of enthusiastic assent followed this beginning.

“The first commandment states…” and she did not need to pay attention. She knew them all by heart, along with the comments that the Master always added. She reviewed them quickly in her mind.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. Not much of a numbers challenge there, she thought wryly. There were barely a thousand people in S1 Home, and how many colonies could there be?

2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity. They were following that for sure. Girls, potential mothers, were poked prodded and given all manner of tests of Gardner’s seven forms of intelligence. She knew a girl who had been refused permission to breed. She herself was high on the list of potential breeders. As for the diversity, she’d been told she might be transferred to another home. Apparently her blonde hair and fair complexion might be wanted somewhere else. Diversity. She shrugged her shoulders at the thought. At least she would see a bit of the outside world in the journey. More than what she could glean from peering through her small window.

3. Unite humanity with a living new language. Esperonto, her grandfather had told her. That is the name of the language everyone speaks today. But it’s not new, she thought. It comes from the Before Time.

4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason. A young scientist, she was in favor of that. Reason must trump passion, and even faith, she thought.

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. What are the laws? she asked herself, almost idly. Obey the Master without question, and no one is allowed to go outside the colony unless to be transferred for breeding. Not that anyone even thought of going out in the poisonous wilderness outside. Of course there was a long list of sins, and they were punishable. Skipping assembly, that was recusancy. Mouthing off, arguing, stealing, being out past curfew, lots of food sins—sneaking extra rations, shirking duties, unauthorized affection, hmmn yes a fair list of those sins.

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. Actually the world court is right here in S1 Home, she noted. But there have never been any disputes, as far as she knew. She supposed that the other colonies were law abiding and their Masters co-operated with her Master.

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. Clear. The Master decides everything.

8. Balance personal rights with social duties. Only reasonable. As in the fourth commandment. Reason must prevail over passion. She admitted that she had feelings for Yuri, the handsome red-haired boy who said he wanted nothing more than to be with her, but she told him she knew it was her duty to go where she was sent for breeding.

9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite. The ninth commandment was cryptic, she reflected. It was hard to think of the infinite when confined to an underground building with only one window.

10. Be not a cancer on the Earth—Leave room for nature—Leave room for nature. This commandment was out of date, she knew. Cancer was a disease from the Before Time, she had read. Now anyone with the gene is forbidden to breed. And leave room for nature? The little bit of nature they could use is cultivated inside the building. The rest is poisonous. Man already destroyed that. The question is more whether nature has any room left for humans.

The ringing voice of the Master brought her attention back to the room. “If we adhere to the guidance of the Stones, we will pass through the poisonous desert and find our way to the Promised Land. We are fortunate because we have achieved the good, we live the good, we continue in the good. Here evil does not enter. Within this colony we know no evil.”

The Promised Land. How long will that take? she asked herself. Who knows? We’ve stopped measuring time, she thought. We’ve stopped measuring time.

Next came the Karaoke choir. Yuri’s mother worked with their soundtracks, microphones and amplifiers, so she knew they had been rehearsing a new number. They always managed to work the words ‘wall’ and ‘sound’ into the titles.

“Our new hymn is called ‘A Wall of Joyful Sound.’ We hope you enjoy it and are uplifted."

Master, sweet Master, guarding our humanity

Master, Master, protector of serenity

Master, Master guide us with your clarity

Master, Master you have the ability

You are such a rarity you bring us tranquility

Master, Master, Master, Master, we salute you

With a wall of Joyful Sound.

As the last echo of the choir faded, the Master made the sign of blessing and she returned it along with all the others. A short recording of wordless music signalled the end of the service. Always the same music, oh but this time there was an extra note. She would ask Yuri about it. His mother worked in the sound section.

She passed by the dining hall, waited her turn, took a cup of miso soup (all that was on offer), and dissolved two cubes of yeast into it. However hard they worked at the communal garden there never seemed to be much variety in the diet, or quite enough to satisfy, she reflected. There was technology to grow meat from a few animal cells, but the ingredients to nourish the cells were not available in sufficient quantity. Water, as always was purified and recycled from the colony’s septic tanks.

Back in the apartment she stood on the chair and continued to examine the little pane of the outside. There was a small puddle of water. She was sure of that, and no doubt it was a toxic soup. She made no more sense of the A and the backwards B. The ancient languages, as far as she knew, with a backwards B had no A, and vice-versa. Rays of light shone on the puddle and she thought about that. Her grandfather was a scientist. One of his instruments sat on a high shelf, level with her as she stood on the chair. It was a light meter of some kind, she realized, and there was a sticker on the stand with an arrow pointing up.

Why an arrow? What for? Think, she ordered herself. Grandpa must have stood right here, looking at this very scene. He must have analyzed the light. What light? The light reflecting off the puddle? She followed the direction of the arrow and examined the ceiling tiles. One was the slightest bit askew. Curious, she touched it, pushed it, and it moved slightly. There was a slight crack between tiles in the ceiling. She took a pin from her hair and started to prise the tile. The gap grew, she reached in with her hand, then suddenly the tile fell, and with it a paper. Wood products, including paper, were precious, but as the colony’s scientist, Grandpa had access to the supply he needed, and he loved paper.

It was addressed to her.

‘If you are reading this, look out! I have found an astonishing secret and reported it to the Master with very surprising results. I intend to report them to the Assembly tomorrow. If I fail to appear, you can read this letter (I know you well enough to know that you will find it) and you will know the truth. Do not, I beg you, tell anyone. This knowledge will be unsafe for you, but you must know…. Enough warning. I was scanning the light bouncing off the water and analyzing the results. To be brief, there is enough sulphur in that water to support a great diversity of life! I concluded that the outside world, which we deem uninhabitable, could well be capable of supporting human life. I brought this hypothesis to the Master, and here is where I was astonished.’

‘He told me that he knew, that he had known since he took office, and that his predecessor had known, but the best way to keep mankind on the right track is to stay right where we are, so we can control men, keep their evil natures in check.’

‘I said he must be mad. What about the other colonies and their masters? What did they think?

‘He shook his head. “There are no other colonies,” he announced solemnly.

‘I was stunned. “And you think we should stay here so that –” I began

“So that man can be good,” He answered. “So that man can be forced to be good. So that man will have no knowledge of the evil world outside.”

“What makes you say it is evil?” I asked.

“Because man destroyed that world, of course,” the Master said easily. I was silent. “You must keep this knowledge to yourself. No one apart from you and me must know,” he said sternly, wagging his index finger at me.

‘I nodded and left. But I will not be silent. What will I say at the Assembly tomorrow? Will I be allowed to speak? I do not know. So be warned. If you are reading this you are in grave danger. G.’

Her mind reeled. How much of what she had been taught was a lie? In one stroke everything was changed. The outside world could sustain life, but no one was living in it. The Master kept them all inside so that—what? So that he could maintain this utopia? Some utopia, she said to herself. Miso soup and yeast cubes. Nowhere to go, little to do except gardening and prayer. Paradise? Far from it. And keeping the population down to five hundred million? No, just a thousand Souls held in captivity, Prisoners in the Master’s Paradise of Obedience.

Then a more frightening and urgent thought intruded in her mind. Her grandfather—she’d been told it was a heart attack. Clearly it was much more sinister. A lethal injection would not have left a mark. The colony had such drugs for euthanasia. The body had been, as was customary, immediately recycled into the gardening soil. She shuddered. She could be next if she could not keep her head. Carefully she placed the letter and the tile back in the ceiling, being sure to conceal all appearance of the subterfuge. She climbed down and moved the chair. No one could know that she knew. Her own survival depended on that. Practicing in a mirror, she schooled herself to make her feigned ignorance convincing: The outside world is death. I miss my grandpa but it was his time. She repeated this three times. She tried to look sad but accepting as she said it.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She adjusted her hair and answered. It was Jason, the Master’s summoner. Her blood froze, but she smiled. “Follow me,” he said pleasantly, and she did, her heart racing, but her face suggesting, as best she could manage, an impression of casual interest and expectation. In a few moments they were in the Sacristy. The Master had shed his vestments, and was attired simply.

He greeted her warmly. Jason left the room.

“Master, you have summoned me,” she said sweetly, bowing.

“Yes child, I want to discuss your classification,” he began benignly.

“But I thought that was not for some time,” she interjected.

“I think you are ready. I think it is time,” he answered. “How do you want to serve the colony?”

She thought quickly, eliminating all possibilities that might lead to suspicion. Nothing to suggest she was curious about life outside of the Home, she whispered to herself. “I had thought,” she began, “of working with the plants. I love the plants. I love the air of the garden. The thought of making things grow, and the hope that I might help increase the yield.”

The Master looked pleased. “The possibility of your transfer to another colony was mentioned,” he said. “Would you prefer that? Would you miss that if you worked here?”

“This is my Home,” she answered. “If I had the chance, my preference would be to remain here.”

A nod from the Master. “Of course. You have grown up here. Your friends are here. Tell me about the red-headed boy.”

“Yuri,” she said. “I think he may be attracted to me, but I have not shown interest to him.”

“Why not? Is he not to your liking?” the Master asked, with feigned curiosity.

“I must balance personal rights with social responsibilities, and reason must rule passion, must rule everything,” she ventured. Was she overdoing it? “If I am to breed it must be for the good of the colony.”

Apparently the Master was swallowing this whole. “Do you wish to breed?” he asked.

Best to keep it real, she thought. “I feel that is a calling,” she said. “I do desire that.”

A nod. “A young woman generally does,” he smiled. “Thank you for your truthfulness. I will consider what you have said, and you will be informed of your classification.”

She thanked him and bowed as she left. The interview had gone well, but how could she continue to behave as if all was the same when her mind was bursting with questions and possibilities? It is difficult to keep big secrets to oneself. As she struggled with her mind, she understood why her grandfather had gone to the Master. It was not just to inform him—it was the vicious, burning, need of the secret to work its way out of the mind into the outer world. And that was the other point, she thought. How could she rest when the whole world beckoned? How could she remain confined in this building with a world to explore?

She rounded a corner, and there was Yuri. Instantly she regretted rejecting his affection. He looked at her hopefully, but she was stoic. The Master would watch her closely to know whether her grandfather had shared his secret. “Yuri,” she said briefly, and passed him in the hallway. She felt him brush her Spandex top. When she rounded the corner, she checked the pocket. There was a pen drive, something that she could carry and read without suspicion. People were always using pen drives, especially the granddaughter of a scientist, she thought, one who did well in school because she read widely and took notes for studying.

In a few moments she regained her apartment and put the drive in her phone. It was a short audio file with a comment: “A fragment in one of the old tongues. Thought you might find it interesting. Yuri.”

It was indeed in an old tongue. She could not understand any of it. She ran it through a translation program. English. The sample was in English. Translate to the new language, she commanded. A few seconds later, out came the translation: “If you change your mind, I’m the first in line.” Intriguing, she mused, and a nice approach from Yuri. Actually, her mind was now changed, radically, irrevocably. And there was no mistaking what Yuri meant. And in that moment something else became clear. Passion could never be ruled by reason. Whether passion for another human, passion to know, or passion to leave a place and explore. Passion was simply too strong, certainly stronger than reason. For that matter, she added, there is nothing reasonable about living underground when the outside world is safe. So it’s not a question of passion over reason, but of reason over a lie.

She considered pragmatically. Where could they meet? There were cameras everywhere. One embrace and the Master would suspect everything. It would be a death sentence for both of them. She tried to put the image of the young man away, but the more she pushed on it, the larger he loomed in her mind. Were there corners of the building that the cameras did not see? Perhaps, but how to find them and how to be sure? They could not meet after dark. That would violate the curfew. Alarms would sound.

Her agile, ordered mind did not take long to move towards a solution to both her problems, outrageous and unlikely as that answer was. She remembered reading about an ancient game called ‘escape room.’ The idea was simple enough. Put a group of people in a closed room and give clues, some false, some productive, that enable them to figure out a way to escape. She had to go outside. If Yuri came with her, they could go together. No cameras, no sins, and as the Master had admitted, no toxicity. The way out? This was a version of the escape room game. What were the clues? The window, yes, and maybe with her slight frame she could just manage to turn to the right angle and squeeze through the window if she broke the glass. She would certainly be cut by the shards. But could Yuri make it through with his blockier frame? She doubted that, so a false clue.

She closed her eyes to think. Grandfather if ever I needed your keen mind I need it now. I am playing a game of escape room and I cannot find the way out. Gradually a red patch appeared in her field of mental vision. She brought it closer in her imagination. There were letters. ‘E X I T.’ Again in an old language. She checked her phone. It was in Latin or English. A moment later she checked the meaning in both—a way out—but what did the clue mean? And it hit her. Yuri’s mom worked in the part of the building called ‘Backstage,’ Yuri had seen a secret door there. He said there was a sign that said ‘Exit.’ It was not fastened shut. He had never found the courage to try it and his mother had forbidden him even to think about it or talk about it.

There are many kinds of bravery. When a situation is desperate, some people stop thinking and succumb. Others start thinking, find a path, and get carried along it by being excited with their own thought process. She was carried away. She composed a text for Yuri. ‘I had my classification interview. I want to see your mom’s workplace. Maybe I could be assigned there. Meet me there tomorrow after Assembly.’ Of course all communications were monitored, but there was nothing surprising in someone thinking about career choices. It would not raise any warning flags, and she had been careful about the wording. She clicked send.

Testing her reaction she found she was not at all rattled. Four stand a better chance than two, she opined. She composed another text to Kyra, the girl who was not allowed to have the child she earnestly wanted. “Tomorrow after service, bring Brian, Backstage. First meeting of Christmas play group. Tell no one. It’s to be a surprise.” Again she read her text carefully. Would it arouse suspicion? No, groups were formed to rehearse Christmas plays. Could she count on Kyra and what about Brian? They had nothing to lose, nothing at all. Four of us stand a better chance, she repeated to herself. Again she pressed send.

Dreams, dreams, and more dreams that night. Landscapes mostly. Long distances, horizons, and skies!!! She had never seen skies like this, She dreamt she was standing in the middle of an open space, looking out in every direction. How could this be? She awoke with even greater determination. At the Assembly she caught Yuri’s eye briefly. She found Kyra in the crowd too. They were in, she could tell. She hardly heard the words as the Master went through his routine. Did she stick out too much wearing a jacket over her cat dress? She imagined she would need it outside. Would it give her intentions away?

The service ended normally and she slipped away unnoticed, as if she was in no hurry for the dining hall. Quietly, furtively, she walked Backstage. The others were there, nervous, expectant. “The outside environment is safe,” she said simply. “It’s been safe for years.

“Are you sure?” Brian asked.

“Yes,” she smiled. “Are you? There’s no turning back.”

“I’m in,” he answered briefly. Kyra and Yuri nodded.

“Let’s go. Yuri, take us to the door. Let’s go before they try to stop us.”

Yuri led the way behind a backdrop, through a narrow corridor, and there it was, the glowing EXIT sign she had seen in her inner vision. “Last chance to opt out,” she said.

“No way,” he said without hesitation. They all pushed. The ancient door opened with only the slightest resistance. A loud alarm sounded, and all four ran through the opening into the blinding light of the outside world, real outdoor air stinging their lungs, their feet unsure where to take them. But no one would follow beyond the building. That much they could count on. There was the remnant of a crude staircase leading upwards and they took it, panting at the effort, reaching the open space of what must have once been a square. As she looked around, blinking, she was astonished to see the entirety of the frame she had glimpsed from her apartment window. A, backwards B, forward B, A. Another part of the frame, apparently, said in an old tongue, “The Museum,” a word she knew. They had grown up in a museum. Yuri pointed to another sign that said ‘Stockholm.’ “Look,” he exclaimed, “Not S1 Home, Stockholm. We’re in Stockholm.” She beamed. He was catching on quickly. No flies on him.

“I’ve read about Stockholm,” she said. We’re near the sea.”

Kyra shouted, “I want to see the sea!”

“Wait,” Brian said. “We need to know where to find food and shelter.”

Good, she thought, a practical person. “Shelter could be in almost any of these abandoned buildings, but food is another problem. Let’s split up into two pairs to look for food, and meet back here in a bit.”

She and Yuri wandered, agog, along what was left of a street, which seemed to lead downhill on a gentle slope. There were ruins of shops, but nothing safe to eat. Water would have to come from a stream or river, and they would need to find that. She knew the city had a river. But food? Still they walked without a clear idea of where they were going. They found warm clothing, ancient, but serviceable.

Suddenly Yuri pointed. “Look at that!” They approached what had been an enclosed area with trees inside. There was a sign.

“Akero,” she exclaimed, remembering the variety from her botany class. “This was an apple orchard.”

“It still is,” he remarked, pointing at the fruit hanging from trees.

She picked two apples from a tree, bit into one, and handed him the other. Yuri ate it hungrily. He stepped closer and planted a kiss on her lips. He looked at her to see her reaction. “Would that be evil, then?”

She pretended to reflect. “No,” she said earnestly. “Evil is back there, where they hold people captive with a lie. This is good.” And she kissed him again, long and fully.

“There’s one more thing,” he said playfully. “I don’t know your middle name.”

“Eve,” she said, laughing.