The Greenworld Part 2

CHAPTER SEVEN

Precept Z

The precepts are comfort in labor

***

Z21 woke in a CAL bed. Z21 first thought that the walk to the Tower was a dream, and that the garden and the labor awaited. Then Z21 noticed that the light was different, the air was thick, and the back of the neck ached. Z21 sat up.

The cell was in a large room. It was lit by rows of globes on the wall. The sound of water falling filled the air, and water flowed through a canal in the middle of the room to an opening in the wall. There were doorways on either side of the canal. The globes on the walls followed the canal and seemed to slope down along an unseen cascade.

There was a small bridge across the canal, and on the other wall were two other cells and a doorway that seemed to lead out on the same level as the room.

As Z21 looked around the room, there came the sound of footsteps. A Citizen dressed in a long white garment came along the wall behind Z21. The citizen seemed to have the same features as all others, yet this citizen possessed white hair along the face.

Z21 stared at the bearded citizen. Images and memories stirred in the back of the mind of the early days.

“Greeting, Citizen Z21.” Said the bearded citizen.

“Greeting… where am I?

“This is the first extraction of the path of Cleansing: We are below the City. Behind us is the Tower.” The citizen gestured to a large slotted table suspended over the canal. “Water comes down, carrying all manner of things and those things are sorted out. Today, you came with it, so it is my labor to sort you out.”

Z21 felt the stomach clench. Z21 looked to the doorways and the canal. There was a feeling that the legs wanted to run, but there was a sense that there was no place to go.

“The doors on the side,” said the bearded Citizen, “lead to the other towers. The only way up is down.” The citizen gestured to the stairways along the canal.

“What’s your CAL?” asked Z21.

“I am T. I tend the towers PZ and EV, as well as the Paths of Cleansing they feed. You will not know me, nor my fellow Citizens of Cleansing. Our labor is to keep the Water and the Life, that The Citizens may live in the Gardens and the Light. This is as it should be, for we follow the Precepts and this is our purpose and comfort in labor.”

Z21 gazed at T. The bearded Citizen seemed different even beyond the hair. Z21 shivered and held the arms close. There was a thin blanket in the cell, but Z21 had not re-clothed before leaving the meeting house.

“It is colder in the path,” said T, “there is no Light to warm us, yet.” T held out a pale cloak. “Here. If you are ready, we will walk back towards the City.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Precept J

Wake then give thanks for the precepts

***

Z21 took the robe and slid from the bed. Z21 paused as the robe wrapped around the shoulders and brushed the legs.

“My body,” said Z21, staring at the breasts and genitals, “has it always been like this?”

T gazed at Z21, his eyes drifted to the back of the neck.

“It’s been like this long enough,” said T almost to himself, “if you want to know the history, I will help you remember. But you must come with me to the Center- I can tell you everything, but what you cannot understand through words will be clear when seen.”

Z21 gazed at T a moment, then tightened the strip of fabric about the waist. The robe was made of a softer material than the gray clothes of labor but was warm.

“Come,” said T and started toward the stairs.

“Where are we going?” Z21 asked.

“As I said, in order ascend we must descend- we are going to the Well beneath the center, then up to the Light.”

“You said this is the Tower of Cleansing?”

T paused at the top of the stairs and gestured Z21 to lead.

“Beneath. This canal you see beside us runs beneath those above.”

Z21 took cautious steps down the stairs, the lights on the wall cast orange hues much different from the light above. T continued talking as they descended.

“The water flows through seven extractions. The first extraction, as you see, separates large objects, and they grow progressively finer as they go down to the Well. The water is quite pure when it reaches the depths, but there is one final stage: it is pumped up to the Light and the light warms the water and purifies it completely. From there it flows from the tower to the canals and repeats the process.”

They reached the bottom of the first flight of stairs.

“This is the second extraction,” T looked at the wall of water beside them. “The water flows, as you see, over the ledge and cascades down here. What you don’t see is the filter behind it. The cascade helps to settle the water so that it can run through the filter behind the cascade. It then flows under and bubbles up to the canal.”

T glanced at Z21. Z21 was stopped but wasn’t looking at the cascade. Z21 was staring at a figure, entranced. The figure was dressed in a similar robe as T, but her hair was long, tied up in a braid that reached her hip. Her pale robe was tied around the waist with a crimson sash and her features were somehow softer than the usual Citizens.

“T,” said the figure, “I’ve come to see the Citizen.” Z21 felt something in the brain, a kind of movement like water across the hair. T touched Z21 on the arm, and Z21 realized that the lungs hadn’t been taking air.

“Z,” said T, “This is Q.”

***

ADM watched T pull Z21 from the first extraction. T placed the body on a side table and held the wrist briefly. He pulled a towel from beneath the table and dried the citizen, then carried Z21 to a CAL bed in the wall.

ADM clenched his fists, his programming mandated that, of the five citizens in the extractions, the eldest spent the final thirty years of life without a node. There were only cameras along the Path of Cleansing, so ADM watched T’s silent movements and wondered what the old man was saying.

ADM sighed, and loosed his fists. It was a negative emotion that had no place in the City. Though he could not listen to their words or thoughts, he had others to be his ears, and the only way out was up.

CHAPTER NINE

Precept T

Through the labor we learn the precepts

***

Q came nearer. She was a few inches taller than Z21 and she leaned forward to look into Z21’s eyes.

“I haven’t been near a Citizen in some time,” said Q. Z21 noticed a scent unlike anything in the City. “How is the labor?”

“We labor to live,” said Z21, feeling breathless.

“And you call that living,” said Q.

Z21 felt an urge in the stomach and genitals, a desire to share The Communion with Q. The corners on Q’s mouth lifted, and Z21 noticed a certain redness about the lips which made them shimmer in the dim light of the orbs.

“There is no Precept of Communion here,” she said softly, looking into Z21’s eyes, and straightening up. “We are set apart for a different kind of communion.”

T stood next to Z21, observing the interaction.

“Your effect is strong on Citizens,” he said, “this one has lost the node, and you seem to be arousing a deeper effect.” He laughed softly.

Q turned her gaze on T. He placed a closed hand to his mouth and cleared his throat.

“I’m taking Z to the Center,” said T, “No harm in preparing a Citizen for what will be seen, is there?”

“Nodeless?” said Q, looking back at Z21. “Exciting. It will certainly gain some good information for the Restoration.” She leaned towards Z21 again. “Do you remember?”

Z21 stared.

“Remember?”

“Anything. Where were you this morning?”

“I was in the meeting house. I couldn’t sleep, but I saw-”

“Before that.” Interrupted Q

“The fields.” Z21’s eyebrows creased, “the meeting house. And we just finished building them…?”

Q let the silence build beneath the sound of water. Z21 felt a chasm open in the memory. Z21 felt that more time had passed than the memories told.

“Have we been sleeping?” asked Z21, finally.

“Yes.” Said Q.

“How long?”

“Long.”

“We have a way to go,” said T, placing a hand on Z21’s shoulder, “I’ll tell you the history as we go.” He guided Z21 towards the next flight of stairs. Q fell into stride with them.

“Where are the others?” asked T as they descended to the third extraction.

“P is waiting at the Storehouse,” said Q, “N is finishing the Labor at YR and KS. M is waiting at the fifth extraction- he is eager to meet a Citizen.”

“Has he never encountered one?”

“Not yet- they’ve only rarely come through the first extraction living, and he hasn’t had much cause to meet The Four.”

Z21 glanced at Q when she said this, “Others have fallen through?”

Q laughed softly, “And they barely knew the difference between the fall and the Rest.”

Z21 felt a sensation along the spine, and an urge to turn back up the stairs and leave the two.

T glanced at Z21, then cleared his throat into his hand. He took Z21’s arm in his.

Z21 looked at T and felt a sensation of calm overcome the urge to run. The bearded face seemed gentle, and, though these Citizens of Cleansing were strange, they too Labored, and the Precepts were clear that the Labor was for life and that life was good.

“I suppose,” He said, “I should begin our explanation.”

CHAPTER TEN

Precept Y

Through labor we follow the precepts

***

“Do you remember, Z, why we built this City?”

“Yes- we built this City as a refuge, so we could survive the Turmoils.”

“Yes, that is the part you’ve been made to recall. But there was more: The Turmoils began after the invention of this City, and much of what The City has become is because of the Turmoils. When the Founder brought us together, we were building a self-sustaining school- a place of study where we could research and develop new technologies.

At the pinnacle of its success, our city-school held around twelve-thousand active Citizens. Some worked in the fields and studied the plants, others worked here in the Cleansing to study filtration, others worked in the Center’s Library, what we now call the Storehouse, and they studied energy, anatomy, and genetics.”

T glanced at Z21, “Do these words mean anything to you, Z?”

“I don’t know,” said Z21, “these were the First Labors, and the labor is to live, so these were for living and that was life?”

“Its mind is damaged, T,” said Q, “why are you trying to build a bird from stone?”

“To make flight miraculous. That is a reasonable way to understand it, Z. However, at that time we were not yet isolated as we are now- can you remember the spaces beyond the city? The sky and the wilderness that were there and not projections on our shield?”

Z21 remembered the tower and the feeling of the wall beneath the hand. Z21 remembered the first days, and air moving across the face while looking out beyond the city.

“Yes,” said Z21.

“That is what we labored for- to be a light shining in the darkness. In our first sixty years-”

“Sixty years?” asked Z21, surprised. “How long have we been here?”

“A long time,” said Q, “It will be clearer when we reach the Storehouse. Don’t speak, listen.”

“Yes,” said T, “In order to understand fully, you should listen first, then observe, then question.” T patted Z21’s hand that was still resting on his arm. They reached the base of the stairs and walked along the canal of the third extraction.

“To continue: in the first sixty years of our City, we developed technologies that eradicated certain illnesses, we improved human genetics and… development. We found better ways to source energy, manage waste, grow plants, and purify water.”

T gestured to the canal beside them as they approached the next staircase. Z21 noticed patches of green along the walls. “This system you see here is the result of that research.”

“What is that?” Asked Z21, pointing to the green.

“That’s called ‘moss’; it’s a kind of plant.” Said T, “You’ll be seeing more as we descend.”

“More?”

“Yes,” said T, “as you will learn, the purpose of this city is preservation.” They reached the stairs. “Where was I?

“Seventy years after our foundation, a series of natural disasters struck. These are what you remember, though dimly, as the Turmoil. Our researchers predicted a series of volcanic eruptions, and we developed the Canopy, the shield that surrounds this City, to protect us from this event. We warned the governments and The Founder left us to take Canopy Guides to other cities, but several wars prevented efficient action. The eruptions came, and we were preserved by our Canopy- but we were isolated from the outside world. To this day we’re uncertain whether the Founder succeeded in saving other cities: if they’ve survived as we have, or if we’re the last remnant of the world.

“There were over nine-thousand citizens living here at that time, and we divided ourselves into Labor groups. Most of us worked in the fields, under the supervision of a few leaders who helped with the planning and growing of food. The rest of us, about one-thousand, labored in the Center, developing a means to check the outside world. Ten of us were the planners, and the rest of us finished building the systems.

“After three months, we succeeded in drilling a hole to the outside world. Our City was buried in ash, and the area around us was desolate. It was clear that we could not survive outside the City, and that we could not sustain ourselves for long with our population…

“We took it upon ourselves to develop a solution.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Precept K

The precepts are for life

***

The three descended the stairs to the fourth extraction.

“We first needed to augment our oxygen,” T continued, “The outside air was toxic, so we spent about three months developing a means to pump filtered air through the hole we drilled. After this we needed to find a more effective means of preserving the population.”

“Wait,” said Q, as the reached the fourth level “M is-”

A small figure came running along the canal “Mother!” said M, running to Q and embracing her. Q exhaled and took a step back as the little body collided with her.

“What happened to waiting at the fifth extraction like we talked about?” asked Q, stroking M’s head.

“How can I wait? I’ve never seen a Citizen, and the Citizen has never seen the fifth extraction- I want to see how it sees what it will see.”

Q scoffed, “Impetuous child.”

M turned to Z21, “You’re a citizen. I’m CAL M. What’s your CAL?”

“Z21-”

“What’s it like in the Meeting Houses? In the Fields?”

“M,” said Q, “Hold for a moment and let the citizen catch up- its mind is still waking.”

“What is M?” asked Z21, “I should remember- there were times when I was like this, wasn’t there?”

“There were times when we were,” said T, “and you may well have some memories of the time left somewhere in your mind. Though they may not be yours entirely.”

“What’s it like in the meeting houses?” asked M again.

“It is pleasant,” said Z21, “after a day in the fields, to rest. In the fields the light is hot, and the dust gets heavy. When we go to the meeting houses, we undress and bathe in the waters, and the water is very good after a day in the fields. The meeting houses contain gardens with fruit trees. We eat from the trees, and there is a fountain in the midst of the garden and we drink from it. We live for the labor, there. There is a song we sing while bathing:

We live for the labor,

We labor for life,

We share life for Communion,

Communion is Rest,

We shall Rest for the labor,

We labor to live,

We labor to live, and this is life.”

“What is the communion?” asked M.

“It is different for the Citizens,” Said T, “Communion is a way for the Citizens to experience physical release and tranquility after their labor; they know no distinctions among themselves and all are one. For we Five it is the E’jad, and it is a remembrance to the Old Ways. We will explain in time, then you’ll understand, and you too will be given a suitable helper to continue the Labor started centuries ago.”

“Centuries ago?” asked Z21, “just how long have we been here?”

***

ADM watched the three descend along the extractions. He felt Q’s thoughts through the node and listened to the history that T told.

ADM enjoyed Q’s thoughts- they were always collected, organized. He could feel her irritation with T, and some suspicion in the back of her mind that T had plans for Z21 beyond a simple return to the Center.

ADM shared Q’s concern. T’s predecessor had pushed ADM to end the City, and T seemed to share that urge to move forward with the Restoration.

ADM shook his head, “T is telling Z21 a nice history,” thought ADM, “when they arrive I’ll give Z21 my own history lesson.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Precept L

The Precepts Bring Peace through The Labor

***

“T,” said Q, “I think it will be clearer for our citizen if we wait until the Storehouse.”

“I think,” said T, “that Z’s mind will be better prepared to understand it if we continue our tale as we walk.” T sighed and gestured to the stairs. “Come, let’s continue and I will explain how it is that we’ve survived as we have, and the Restoration we labor toward.”

“When the ADM deems fit,” added Q, somewhat sharply.

Z21 stared at T. Z21 couldn’t remember the days after the founding of the city. T had said the Turmoils were seventy years after the founding of the City, now he said ‘centuries’. T took Z21 gently by the arm and moved to the stairs.

“How long have we been here?” asked Z21, “you said you were one of the planners.”

“We are the descendants of the Planners,” said T, “we keep their memories, and we keep their research safe. Though my form is new my content is the same: I remember, as though I was there and was of the Planners that initiated this system.”

Z21 looked up at the bearded face, and T smiled a small smile that Z21 did not quite understand.

“T,” said Q, “it’s not yet time for M to know this history.”

“Let him hear,” said T, “better, let him tell us what he has learned, then, if he has ears to hear, he can start the next phase of his education; we can revisit at the appointed time as well. Unless the ADM objects?”

Q paused, as though listening “Very well,” said Q, “There is reason to your words. M, will you tell the Citizen what you know of our history?”

“Of course!” M strode to Z21, took the hand, and started walking towards the next set of stairs.

“It all started long ago,” said M, “The world was full of Cities; big ones, like ours, with hundreds of thousands of Citizens, and small ones, with only a family to run a shop.”

“Big ones “like ours”?” Z21 looked at M, and stopped “our population is only four-hundred and eighty-four.”

“Ninety if you count us and the ADM,” Q added, “what he means will be clear when we get to the Storehouse. T: N is joining us. Wait here a moment.”

“If we must.”

T gestured to a bench along the wall and Z21 sat, M sat down beside.

“M, continue.”

“Yes, mother. The cities were gathered into areas called ‘countries’ and the people in the countries were divided into things called ‘nationalities’ and they were further divided into something called ‘eth-nicity’. There was so much division and sub-division that the different groups of people fought with one another constantly.

“Sometimes they’d fight over things like food and land (because some countries couldn’t build like our founder did, and those countries went hungry a lot), sometimes they fought over who had the better nationality- can you imagine, Z, fighting with each other because you labor in the field, and I labor down here? I’ve even heard of a few fights that happened because the Directors of countries just wanted to fight! It must have been a strange time. Anyway, the Founder saw this, and he set himself the First Labor: to build a city of Light and Water, a place that would allow the different countries and nationalities and ethnicities to live together and be Citizens of the World.”

“He gathered others who felt like he did, and they built this City as a place of knowledge (which he called light) and a place to grow food for the world (which he called Water). The new Citizens labored in peace and developed a New Human that abolished ethnicity and improved the genetics. Then the Turmoils arose and the labor needed to change from improvement to preservation.

“The Citizens agreed to create the Automatic Directive Machine, the ADM, to preserve the genetic model they had developed, and to guide them through a kind of sleep inside the city until the outside world was habitable again.

“To this end, the Citizens chose to Labor in the Fields and the Gardens, and we, the Five, labor here beneath the City. Unlike the other citizens, we are born as we were in the old world. This ensures that we preserve natal reproduction within our genetics.

“I am the ninth generation of the genetic line of the founder, and the citizens have lived happily for three centuries and fifty-three years.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Precept M

Through the precepts we understand

***

“Three hundred and fifty-two years?” Z21 looked sharply at T, “We’ve been here for three hundred and fifty-two years?! How do I remember the building? How have I lived so long? What am I?”

“T,” came a voice, “you’ve shocked the citizen. Are you sure its mind will hold?”

“N,” said T, as a man emerged from a side passage, “good. We can continue.”

“If you had your nodes you could pass these lessons more efficiently.”

“ADM knows I couldn’t keep it, remind him will you? One must unlink from one thing to link to another; you’ll know in time, N.” T turned to Z21 “Z, just process for a moment. This is new information which upsets what you’ve known. Inhale and tell me what you feel.”

“Feel? My heart is pounding. My head hurts.” Z21 glanced at N and felt a kind of lightness in the stomach. N watched with a still expression.

“Good,” said T, “Be still just a moment. I will explain how you’ve lived and explain the next part of our history that M has not yet heard. M, listen well. Z21: you are one of the New Humans M mentioned. You are designed to preserve the various genes of the old world and ensure none of them are not lost to time.

“We five are different, we reproduce in the old way which allows deeper variation in our genes.”

Z21 stared at T.

“Ah,” he said, “I see I’ve gone too far.” He turned to M, “M, up to this point you have been taught that the Citizens of this City chose this life-”

“T,” said N, “M is still a year from this lesson, is it really time to teach this lesson?” Q stood near him, her arm in his.

“In light of the centuries what’s one year?” said T, “What does ADM say?” T looked at M and Z21.

“M, up to this point you’ve known a simple history. Where everyone involved is of one accord and we come to decisions tidily and timely.

“But now is the time for you to understand that great decisions are rarely simple, and we must always work through the choices of those who’ve come before us.

“The story you’ve been told is true, but the order is jumbled, and reality is more complicated than history. Before the Turmoils the citizens of this city were many races, many sexes, many people, and for some months after we enclosed The City in the shield, we maintained a tenuous peace as we sought ways to preserve the population.

“Before you arrived, M, I was telling Z about this situation. We realized that thousands of us could not survive confined as we were, and we realized that we had to limit the population to preserve our lives. We worked to create a system for preservation.

“Our goal, in the beginning, was to save all citizens as they were, and to that end we organized the citizens into groups of about eight-hundred and had them work in the ten districts. Initially, this worked well enough, but after a few months of confinement in the city the citizens began fighting amongst themselves.”

“Why would they fight?” asked M, “the city’s so peaceful…”

“The first citizens were used to a life with more than just the City; even a peaceful place can feel like a prison, and with over eight-thousand people resources were limited. It was partly because of this that we devised the nodes; they are designed to affect the brain waves, and so they help induce sleep and calm behaviors.

“We presented this idea to the citizens, but many disagreed. Unfortunately, survival called for unity not dissent. We didn’t force the issue publicly, but instead devised a way to preserve the citizens more effectively- with or without their consent.

“It was during this time that we devised the system of the CAL and the ADM. Those who lived in the City couldn’t understand how small their lives were compared to the larger goal: survival of human genetics. We set to work developing the basis of the Storehouse and, using our own genetics, developed the ADM.

“After we built the ADM, we released a gas into the air that put the citizens to sleep. We kept the planners and the ADM awake, and we initiated the implanting of nodes. With the nodes, the ADM was able to coach the citizens into helping until all the thousands were aligned.

“Even with the nodes in place, there were a few dissenters. A few citizens attempted to remove the nodes themselves and damaged themselves beyond repair. Those dissenters were kept for study, while the rest of the population, under direction of the ADM, expanded our facilities below the city.

“When complete, the facility had a space for each citizen to sleep in stasis. We felt it was best if they didn’t endure the passage of time as we waited for the outside world to be habitable. It was then we planners subjected ourselves to the node as well, except for one: A man named Tobias, son of the founder, it was his job to ensure that the ADM’s programming stayed true to our intent.

“It was Tobias who initiated we five, and who finalized our vision of the Citizens. We had expected to be in stasis for a while, but the duration was much longer than anticipated, which lead to something of a fortunate misfortune: many of the original citizens began to deteriorate in their stasis…”

T paused, and looked at M and Z21, “Tobias took advantage of the incident to expand our research on the New Human. Tobias and the ADM refined the deteriorating citizens into their base components and used them to create the current citizens: genetic capsules preserving thousands of histories in four-hundred and eighty-four citizens.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Precept N

We are bound to keep the precepts

***

Z21 stared, I’m made of thousands of citizens? Z21felt a heaviness in the lungs and eyes, “What am I?” Z21 asked, then began to weep, “What am I?”

“Z,” said T, softly, “you are designed to carry the genetics of the world. You carry traces of memory from an old life, perhaps your own, perhaps that of another. Can you stand? There is still much to see.

“M, observe this closely. There will come a time when all the nodes will be removed, and the storehouse emptied. We will need to guide them as best we can, as delicately as we can.”

T placed a hand on Z21’s shoulder and rubbed.

“T,” Said M, “What is our purpose in all of this?”

“N,” Said T, “Would you explain?”

M looked to N.

N sighed, “ADM, what do you make of this?” N listened a moment, “Nothing? No words, no council? Then I’ll press on- I suppose T will if I don’t.” He grumbled and turned away, “we have another year before this was supposed to pass.”

“M, it is our role to preserve this City, the citizens, the storehouse. These things we preserve are the past, the hope and the future for humanity, perhaps there are others that have survived the Turmoils, perhaps not.

“Our purpose is to decide, with the guidance of the ADM, the fate of the City and the Citizens: whether this segment of humanity is better preserved here as Citizens and Seeds, or whether it is time to Restore the Citizens and establish a life in the outside world.”

N paused and listened, “The ADM speaks,” he said, “let’s continue to the Center. ADM wants to complete the programming. Can the citizen move? We must press on.”

“Ah,” said T to himself, “silent through all this and now ADM wants to progress.”

“Z,” said T, “come. It is a lot to think, but the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is hidden will be made known- to you and to the rest of the City.”

***

ADM listened as T explained their history to Z. Q’s mind, as ever, was calm and ascertaining. M was curious, but unimpressed by the knowledge that the Citizens were given no choice in their stasis.

N’s mind was much more interesting to sense. His was a blend of irritation that T was breaking tradition to explain this history, and suspicion that T had motives aside from the well-being of the City they labored to preserve.

ADM agreed. T’s motives seemed beyond the goal of preserving the City, and ADM suspected T wanted to initiate the restoration. It was a goal perplexing to ADM- these humans were perfect where they were and free of the troubles that plagued the old world.

The ADM’s programming required that one Citizen be node-less, there was nothing saying the citizen had to be active.