X3: 215

Kerry Dutter Dystopian Story

X 3: 215

Naomi Blunt plugged the code into the computer, lifted the boxy machine onto the table and waited. It began silently whirring. The readout on her timer showed seconds, minutes, and most importantly the captured energy output. Within 5 minutes the whirring slowed and stopped. Energy output: Zero. Blunt looked at the previous thousands of codes she had entered and sighed. Someday she thought, someday. There was no urgency to get this done now but she knew it was coming. As an MIT trained chemist and researcher she was employed by the Government of the Americas to find alternative food sources. Food, inside the bubble they lived in was too scarce, due to a lack of sunshine, water, and earth to grow anything in. If her superiors knew about her real research, they would kill her. She thought about that a minute, and remembered what her father had told her, “Everyone knows they’ve got to die. No one wants to do it today.”

Evictions in Starlight City still went on, everyday, despite the GOA’s insistence that there would be a moratorium. Sherriff Clemons had done many in the past and probably more in the future. You had the archetype family: Teary Teenage Girl. Weeping Mom, Indignant Dad. Clemons had seen many and was resiistant to the emotion of it all. He smiled benignly as the family members walked past him one more time and out the door. Now it was his time. He had always recognized that every family left somethingbehind of value, usually because of their haste to get out, a haste which he vigorously encouraged. Upstairs: kids bedroom-nothing, parents bedroom-nothing. Then on his way back down the stairs he saw a glint on the first step. He picked up a gold chain attached to a locket. He clicked open the locket and stared shaking his head. “What?” He was clearly perplexed but no matter, he would take it down to the pawn shop and get whatever he could. Sheriff Clemons had been a greedy thief as a young man. Now as an old man he was a desperately greedy thief. He was shoving the piece into his pocket when the door opened again. Shania Redheffer, the daughter, came back in and saw Sheriff Clemons. “What is that?”, she asked pointing to his pocket. “Nothing”, he lied. She wavered disbelievingly. He reached his hand into the same pocket and pulled out a tissue, “Just this. Had to blow my nose. Why are you back here?”, he asked. “I left something in my room.” He nodded, “OK but I will have to go up with you as you are now officially off the premises.” She walked cautiously past the burly, old man. She went quickly into the room, looked around on the floor and saw nothing. “Maybe someone else picked it up.”, Shania said. “What is it?”, Clemons asked. “A locket, it isn’t worth anything but it’s been in the family a long time.””, she replied. Clemons shook his head, “Ah, that’s too bad. I’ll let you know if someone finds it.” “Sure”, she said on her way out the door.

Naomi, was up at four the next morning ready to get back to work on her research. She poured water into the coffee maker and put four scoops of what was supposed to be coffee into the machine. She noticed with increasing frequency that everything she shopped for at the market was less and less flavorful. Another sign that this was a dying society. Roughly one million people were trapped in the “bubble.” It had been built by the last remaining billionaire who hadn’t lost everything to the new American Oligarchs. It had to be built and a lottery was held to see who would get in. Only a few other key people, like Naomi Blunt, were allowed ”non lottery access”, along with the Oligarchs and those they bribed. But without realizing it the “selectors” who picked the brilliant researcher as an indispensable worker would have been shocked to find out she was plotting against them and willing to die , quite literally, to breathe free air. The Society rarely communicated. There was only one cipher that would be sent to all who were part of it. It would be a weird transposition of numbers that had to be understood by the person who received it. It would be the signal that they were going to begin an offensive in 48 hours and that Naomi would have to have her machine ready to attach to the Society’s electromagnetic weapons, which were mostly Haelos and PMT 300 Dual PEMF’s. There were enough of Society soldiers to fire them. The only other concern was that once the word was given they could not go back as they had no other way to communicate until they took over. Naomi’s role with the Society, came about only because she realized that science was the way out of this tragic mess which was brought on by greed and astronomical miscalculation of the effects of global warming. Even now the oxygen level in the bubble was diminishing slowly, suffocating the last million or so one day at a time. The climate scrubbers that were supposed to reduce CO2 and enhance the oxygen, were depleted of energy. There was no way to power the CO2 scrubbers since the only energy source was from a power grid in the Midwest that could not provide enough power for everything . So electricity was rationed. The GOA decided that the remaining best uses would be to ensure search lights were on at curfew and , of course to light the houses of the Oligarchs, their electric vehicles, and their oxygen tanks. But if Naomi could be successful she could make the world livable again. At least inside the bubble. She remembered the wording of the patent given to Charles Redheffer in 1830: “machinery for the purpose of gaining power.” The words tantalized her and had kicked off her true dream in science. To build and to energize the world through the first working perpetual motion machine. She did not know intellectually that it was possible but she felt an instinct in her that in this world that was reeling backward into primordial times it was possible. She might die in the effort. She also did not know as she stood there thinking about it that the call from the Society would come much sooner than she thought.

As Naomi opened her email, and sipped from her “chicory flavored water” as she called it, she noticed a strange trans positioning of the times of her emails. It was minutes first, followed by the hour. 2:45 am was listed as 45:2, 3:00, was listed as 00:3. This was the signal. It had to be. She now had 48 hours to power up the machine and energize the weapons or face desolation.

Sheriff Blunt was astounded by what he was hearing. He had taken the locket to a fairly cheap, dishonest pawn broker. The man behind the counter had pulled a book out and was astonished to see that in the pre-bubble era this locket was worth $ 20,000.00 . That meant it had to be worth a lot still. The pawn broker opened the locket and saw the inscription. “What do you think that means Sheriff Blunt?” Blunt replied, “I don’t know.” Getting back to the value the pawn man said, “For that kind ofmoney you should go to one of the Oligarchs.” Blunt thought about it for a minute and said, “Yeah, probably so..” As he was leaving he said to the man, “Don’t tell anyone about this.”

Naomi was frantically entering codes into the computer as the machine lay on the table. Always the same result. It would whirr and stop. She thought back to remembering what she read on Redheffer. He had been interviewed by a local newspaper. The reporter had asked him how the machine worked and what was the key to the machine’s ability to generate its own power forever. Redheffer said, “There is an unseen force in the universe that can be harnessed by my machine. All that will be needed to run it is a code.” She was haunted by these words and with time running out decided to do something desperate. She scanned for addresses in Starlight City. She got Luke Redheffer’s name and address.

Naomi had an electric car that she could only run for one hour a day. She backed out of the garage and keeping note of the curfew time of 7:00 pm made her way to the Redheffer’s house. She knocked on the door. No answer. Suddenly she saw the note on the door.: EVICTION NOTICE with today’s date. She cursed. Just as she was ready o walk away a woman approached. “You looking for Jenna Redheffer?” Naomi replied. “Do you know where she is?” “Yeah for ten bucks I’ll tell you.” She pulled a $10,00 bill out and handed it to her. “They’re in Moonlight City, 20 Stark Street. I was friends with Jenna. Too bad about them getting evicted.” Moonlight City was a decrepit series of row houses. She got to 20 Stark and knocked on the door. Jenna Redheffer answered. Naomi, crying, spewed out, “I need help!”

Naomi told the story about her research in perpetual motion and that her inspiration had been Charles Redheffer, their distant ancestor. She had to mention that she was a part of the “Society”, as she was running out of time.. Both Jenna and her daughter Shania looked at each other. “Would you like to see some of his papers from back then? “ Jenna asked. “Yes!!! Please!,” Naomi said. She thumbed through countless documents but there were no immediate answers. “Is there anything else?” Shania said, “Yes a locket,with some weird letters and numbers in it. But it was stolen by that fat Sheriff Clemons.” Naomi said, “OK. Lets get it! “ Without saying a word, Luke Redheffer slipped out the back door and headed to Sheriff Clemons office in Starlight City. Jenna, Shania, and Naomi headed out in Naomi’s car. Time was short.

“Hey Luke” Sheriff Clemons said “What’s up?”. Luke replied , “Where is it?” Clemons cleared his throat, “Where’s what?” Luke stepped toward Clemons and just as he was within 18” of him, Clemons with speed that was surprising, pulled out his Taser and shot it directly into Luke’s chest. He dragged him into a cell and locked the door, wiping the sweat off his large forehead afterward.

Shania and Naomi pulled up and walked into the office, while Jenna stayed in the car. No one was there. They heard the sound of water running and then a moan from the jail cell. Suddenly Shania said , “ Hey! Who is that”!? She ran over to realize it was Luke, her father. Just then they heard the Sheriff’s voice, “

Get away from that cell.” Shania turned around, “You stole that locket and I want it now! Then you release my father!.” Sheriff Clemons pulled out his gun and said, “I don’t think so.” Just then a loud crack shot through the office and suddenly Sheriff Clemons was face down on the office floor. Jenna stood behind the body with a tire iron. “That felt good!” she said.

Naomi and Shania frantically searched the office for the locket. They were down to hours now. Shania was watching her father tie up Clemons and said, “Wait!.” She checked his right pants pocket. There it was! Naomi took the locket and opened it and stood silent for a minute. Suddenly she raced to the car and brought her computer and machine in. She placed the locket on the desk and the machine on its own table. Slowly she typed the characters: X 3: 215 from the locket. This was Charles Redheffer’s patent number from 1820. The machine whirred and it never stopped.