Quelling Epiphany

I

...And so Mankind was brought to ruin,

Plunged into an era of Darkness and Despair.

The scorching earth sent the Old World into peril,

Mankind’s negligence punished with our own undoing:

Overpopulation brought Famine,

Civilizations lost to rising oceans,

Mass extinction...widespread Plague...

So befell Mankind, who fled inland in a panicked Exodus.

But not even our peril could inspire Unity...

...came the Civil War, amidst the fight for survival,

Mankind torn apart by our own brothers and sisters,

No competent leadership to save us from our own barbaric ways.

And almost none remained,

The Old World overtaken by Death.

Then! From the void of power, the throes of anarchy,

The chaos which cursed the earth,

Rose the Sodality and its glorious New World.

The Sodality removed all digital platforms used by agitators of the War,

Erected the Edicts of New World,

Brought life and hope and order to Mankind once more -

A new era of prosperity and peace.

Never again shall we repeat the Old Ways...

Edicts of New World: Tablet Two, Lines 26-49

II

Logbook to the Sodality

Citizen #4489751 “Dana”

Entry: Year 415, Day 72

Sector 6

Status: Submitted

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Blessed be the Sodality!

Today I feel: elated. Isn’t that amazing? That is a strong word, but it is the correct one. I am always very happy with my family unit and friends. I like the other kids in my class. Everyone is so nice. Especially my teacher, Ms. Aiko. There is so much I don’t know! She works so hard to help us learn.

I said to my friend Yasser: that I am happy he is my friend. I said to my maternal guardian: that I liked the breakfast she made.

I saw nothing out of the ordinary today. I went to school and came home.

I like writing this diary. I think it’s amazing that the government reviews our writing in order to protect us and make sure people do not repeat the bad things that happened in the past. That’s what we’re learning about in school right now: dangerous words. But they are not so dangerous anymore. We learned about the War that started by sharing these words and ideas. How could people be so horrible! But now we don’t have to worry. We all use the same words now.

III

Notes between Citizen #4489751 “Dana” and Citizen #4010349 “Yasser”

[Confiscated Day 73]

Yasser,

I found something strange today! Isn’t that amazing? I was digging around an alcove at the base of a tree by the outskirts of the schoolyard and found the thing. It is some kind of pendant, but it is an odd shape I have never seen before. How interesting! It is almost like two petals - curved towards the top but tapered at the bottom, and symmetrical over a vertical axis. I think they used to call it “heart.”

I am scrambling to write this - I have not shown it to anyone just yet. The pendant opens. A locket! I have never held one before. There is a letter inside. It is written in our language, but I do not recognize many of these words.

---- Pain

---- Love

---- Pregnant

---- Sonnet

---- Shakespeare

I think I have copied them right. Do you know them, friend? Perhaps they were lost a long time ago, when the Sodality was founded. Maybe they are dangerous words - the ones Ms. Aiko told us about in class.

I am so curious about this! I am thrilled; yes, that is the correct word for how I feel. But I did not write it in my Logbook today. I have debated whether to turn in the relic to the Sodality. I know it would be the correct thing to do. But I do not want the original writer’s message to be lost forever. It seems rude. So I will keep it. Wanna see it?

-Dana

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Are you sure that’s a good idea? I would advise you against keeping it. You’d be violating the Codes in the Edicts. Do you want to get in trouble with Ms. Aiko? I don’t want to tell her. I already feel terrified writing this note to you. I would rather you hand it to her. If you don’t, I think I might have to tell her herself. Those words could be dangerous. There is probably a reason these words have disappeared, and you know that the Sodality wants to see every piece of writing.

-Y

IV

Crumpled letter inside heart-locket

V

Public speaker announcement

VI

NEW WORLD DISTRICT COURT TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT

SECTOR 6 - YEAR 415, DAY 86

1 THE COURT: Good afternoon. Could you please identify yourself?

2 CITIZEN #4489751: Sure. My name is Dana. Citizen #4489751. Age fifteen. My residence is in Sector 6.

3 THE COURT: Who are the members of your assigned family unit?

4 CITIZEN #4489751: My paternal guardian is Citizen #7839028 “Peter.” My maternal guardian is Citizen #9345103 “Juana.” My brother-companion is Citizen #4076077 “Archer.”

5 THE COURT: Do you know why you have been apprehended?

6 CITIZEN #4489751: Yes.

7 THE COURT: Can you tell the Judiciary Council what transgression you have committed?

8 CITIZEN #4489751: [Inaudible]

9 THE COURT: Repeat that, please.

10 CITIZEN #4489751: I withheld language.

11 THE COURT: Correct. You are being tried on three counts of forbidden behavior: one count of withholding a written document, one count of concealing an Old World relic, and one count of lying in your daily Logbook. Do you deny this?

12 CITIZEN #4489751: No.

13 THE COURT: What did you think you might gain out of it? Or out of endangering your friend with a private letter? What ideas did you plan to hide from the Sodality?

14 CITIZEN #4489751: I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I assumed my words were not dangerous. I thought maybe it would be fun to learn by myself. I don’t mind relinquishing the relic or my document to the Sodality. It was a mistake. I really am sorry. I’ll never do it again, I promise.

15 THE COURT: We understand, Citizen. That may be, but it is not the mistake that offends the Sodality. You have proven yourself to be a dangerous individual; you have the potential to disseminate, to create and share language in secrecy that might threaten New World. Or have you forgotten the lessons taught from the Edicts of New World? The Sodality prides itself on its history of providing a beacon of hope and structure. We do not tolerate dissenters. You seem sound enough to recognize that.

16 THE COURT: We hereby sentence Citizen #4489751 to death for capital transgression. Court adjourned.

VII

...Mankind was weakened by technology,

Polarized by radical forces online.

We fell to ruin by our own words...

As the earth was dying,

Survivors fled to the highlands,

Brought us to the brink of extinction...

...a Civil War inflamed by the free sharing of language,

Of inflammatory ideas readily available,

An inundation of misinformation -

The web of social thinking had ensnared us, divided us...

Then! The Sodality ended the War,

Exterminated all platforms of data and dangerous thinking.

...All language would be filtered through the mighty Sodality.

No longer would Mankind fall to destruction...

Edicts of New World

Tablet Four, Lines 82-95

VIII

Letter from Dana (unsent) (intercepted)

Year 415, Day 90

To: Dana

----- I set out to write a letter, but for whom? The Judiciary Council has told me it will go unsent. I await my execution. So I have addressed it to myself. If I were the Sodality, what would I want to see in a letter? What would I make someone write?

----- I have never written anything to myself. Has anyone ever written something to themselves?

----- I can write whatever I want! Isn’t that amazing?

----- What would I want to write to myself? When I do not have to tell someone about my day, or how I feel, or what I saw, or what I did and said? What is there left to say?

----- I feel: sad. That is the correct word. I do not get to say bye to my family unit. They must feel embarrassed pity ashamed ? I do not know the correct word. I do not know how they feel. What would they think the Sodality wanted them to feel?

----- I saw:

----- I did:

----- I said:

----- These things are actually not important to me.

----- I suddenly wonder about this heart-locket. The lost letter that will die with me, around my neck. Simone and Beatriz. What happened to them? Were they Citizens? I have never heard of a unit with two women.

----- Did they die for their words? Did they fight to hide their letters in lockets?

----- I feel: scared. Alone. Wronged.

----- Did Simone and Beatriz feel scared and alone and wronged?

----- Though perhaps I am not so alone, after all. I have their letter. I have mine. I will die with a letter like theirs - consecrated in privacy. Will my words end up somewhere far in the future for someone to uncover and question?

----- I feel: a sort of contentment.

----- I feel: sacred. I have a letter the Sodality will never read. I have words of my own.

----- I am: like Simone and Beatriz.