PART TWO
Liberty 5-3000... Liberty five-three thousand ... Liberty 5-3000....
We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not speakit above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of women, andwomen are forbidden to take notice of men. But we think of one amongwomen, they whose name is Liberty 5-3000, and we think of no others. Thewomen who have been assigned to work the soil live in the Homes of thePeasants beyond the City. Where the City ends there is a great roadwinding off to the north, and we Street Sweepers must keep this roadclean to the first milepost. There is a hedge along the road, and beyondthe hedge lie the fields. The fields are black and ploughed, and theylie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some handbeyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart asthey come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, greenspangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the windare like the wings of sea-gulls beating over the black soil.
And there it was that we saw Liberty 5-3000 walking along the furrows.Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. Their eyes weredark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness and noguilt. Their hair was golden as the sun; their hair flew in the wind,shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it. They threw seedsfrom their hand as if they deigned to fling a scornful gift, and theearth was a beggar under their feet.
We stood still; for the first time did we know fear, and then pain.And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious thanpleasure.
Then we heard a voice from the others call their name: ”Liberty 5-3000,”and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their name, and westood watching them go, till their white tunic was lost in the bluemist.
And the following day, as we came to the northern road, we kept our eyesupon Liberty 5-3000 in the field. And each day thereafter we knew theillness of waiting for our hour on the northern road. And there welooked at Liberty 5-3000 each day. We know not whether they looked at usalso, but we think they did. Then one day they came close to the hedge,and suddenly they turned to us. They turned in a whirl and the movementof their body stopped, as if slashed off, as suddenly as it had started.They stood still as a stone, and they looked straight upon us, straightinto our eyes. There was no smile on their face, and no welcome. Buttheir face was taut, and their eyes were dark. Then they turned asswiftly, and they walked away from us.
But the following day, when we came to the road, they smiled. Theysmiled to us and for us. And we smiled in answer. Their head fell back,and their arms fell, as if their arms and their thin white neck werestricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They were not looking uponus, but upon the sky. Then they glanced at us over their shoulder, as wefelt as if a hand had touched our body, slipping softly from our lips toour feet.
Every morning thereafter, we greeted each other with our eyes. We darednot speak. It is a transgression to speak to men of other Trades, savein groups at the Social Meetings. But once, standing at the hedge, weraised our hand to our forehead and then moved it slowly, palm down,toward Liberty 5-3000. Had the others seen it, they could have guessednothing, for it looked only as if we were shading our eyes from thesun. But Liberty 5-3000 saw it and understood. They raised their hand totheir forehead and moved it as we had. Thus, each day, we greet Liberty5-3000, and they answer, and no men can suspect.
We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second Transgressionof Preference, for we do not think of all our brothers, as we must, butonly of one, and their name is Liberty 5-3000. We do not know why wethink of them. We do not know why, when we think of them, we feel all ofa sudden that the earth is good and that it is not a burden to live. Wedo not think of them as Liberty 5-3000 any longer. We have given thema name in our thoughts. We call them the Golden One. But it is a sin togive men names which distinguish them from other men. Yet we call themthe Golden One, for they are not like the others. The Golden One are notlike the others.
And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think ofwomen, save at the Time of Mating. This is the time each spring when allthe men older than twenty and all the women older than eighteen are sentfor one night to the City Palace of Mating. And each of the men have oneof the women assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics. Children areborn each winter, but women never see their children and children neverknow their parents. Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, butit is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think.
We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more. Today, wespoke to the Golden One.
The other women were far off in the field, when we stopped at the hedgeby the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone at the moatwhich runs through the field. And the drops of water falling from theirhands, as they raised the water to their lips, were like sparks of firein the sun. Then the Golden One saw us, and they did not move, kneelingthere, looking at us, and circles of light played upon their whitetunic, from the sun on the water of the moat, and one sparkling dropfell from a finger of their hand held as frozen in the air.
Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge, as if they had heard acommand in our eyes. The two other Street Sweepers of our brigade werea hundred paces away down the road. And we thought that International4-8818 would not betray us, and Union 5-3992 would not understand. Sowe looked straight upon the Golden One, and we saw the shadows of theirlashes on their white cheeks and the sparks of sun on their lips. And wesaid:
”You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000.”
Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only theireyes grew wider, and there was triumph in their eyes, and it was nottriumph over us, but over things we could not guess.
Then they asked:
”What is your name?”
”Equality 7-2521,” we answered.
”You are not one of our brothers, Equality 7-2521, for we do not wishyou to be.”
We cannot say what they meant, for there are no words for their meaning,but we know it without words and we knew it then.
”No,” we answered, ”nor are you one of our sisters.”
”If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us?”
”We shall look upon you, Liberty 5-3000, if we see you among all thewomen of the earth.”
Then they asked:
”Are Street Sweepers sent to different parts of the City or do theyalways work in the same places?”
”They always work in the same places,” we answered, ”and no one willtake this road away from us.”
”Your eyes,” they said, ”are not like the eyes of any among men.”
And suddenly, without cause for the thought which came to us, we feltcold, cold to our stomach.
”How old are you?” we asked.
They understood our thought, for they lowered their eyes for the firsttime.
”Seventeen,” they whispered.
And we sighed, as if a burden had been taken from us, for we had beenthinking without reason of the Palace of Mating. And we thought that wewould not let the Golden One be sent to the Palace. How to prevent it,how to bar the will of the Councils, we knew not, but we knew suddenlythat we would. Only we do not know why such thought came to us, forthese ugly matters bear no relation to us and the Golden One. Whatrelation can they bear?
Still, without reason, as we stood there by the hedge, we felt our lipsdrawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our brother men. Andthe Golden One saw it and smiled slowly, and there was in their smilethe first sadness we had seen in them. We think that in the wisdom ofwomen the Golden One had understood more than we can understand.
Then three of the sisters in the field appeared, coming toward the road,so the Golden One walked away from us. They took the bag of seeds, andthey threw the seeds into the furrows of earth as they walked away. Butthe seeds flew wildly, for the hand of the Golden One was trembling.
Yet as we walked back to the Home of the Street Sweepers, we felt thatwe wanted to sing, without reason. So we were reprimanded tonight, inthe dining hall, for without knowing it we had begun to sing aloud sometune we had never heard. But it is not proper to sing without reason,save at the Social Meetings.
”We are singing because we are happy,” we answered the one of the HomeCouncil who reprimanded us.
”Indeed you are happy,” they answered. ”How else can men be when theylive for their brothers?”
And now, sitting here in our tunnel, we wonder about these words. It isforbidden, not to be happy. For, as it has been explained to us, men arefree and the earth belongs to them; and all things on earth belong toall men; and the will of all men together is good for all; and so allmen must be happy.
Yet as we stand at night in the great hall, removing our garmentsfor sleep, we look upon our brothers and we wonder. The heads of ourbrothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and never do theylook one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our brothers are hunched,and their muscles are drawn, as if their bodies were shrinking andwished to shrink out of sight. And a word steals into our mind, as welook upon our brothers, and that word is fear.
There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in the airof the streets. Fear walks through the City, fear without name, withoutshape. All men feel it and none dare to speak.
We feel it also, when we are in the Home of the Street Sweepers. Buthere, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure under theground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours give us strengthfor our hours above the ground.
Our body is betraying us, for the Council of the Home looks withsuspicion upon us. It is not good to feel too much joy nor to be gladthat our body lives. For we matter not and it must not matter to uswhether we live or die, which is to be as our brothers will it. But we,Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. If this is a vice, then we wishno virtue.
Yet our brothers are not like us. All is not well with our brothers.There are Fraternity 2-5503, a quiet boy with wise, kind eyes, who crysuddenly, without reason, in the midst of day or night, and their bodyshakes with sobs they cannot explain. There are Solidarity 9-6347, whoare a bright youth, without fear in the day; but they scream in theirsleep, and they scream: ”Help us! Help us! Help us!” into the night, ina voice which chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity9-6347.
And as we all undress at night, in the dim light of the candles, ourbrothers are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of theirminds. For all must agree with all, and they cannot know if theirthoughts are the thoughts of all, and so they fear to speak. And theyare glad when the candles are blown for the night. But we, Equality7-2521, look through the window upon the sky, and there is peace in thesky, and cleanliness, and dignity. And beyond the City there lies theplain, and beyond the plain, black upon the black sky, there lies theUncharted Forest.
We do not wish to look upon the Uncharted Forest. We do not wish tothink of it. But ever do our eyes return to that black patch upon thesky. Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is no power toexplore it and no path to lead among its ancient trees which standas guards of fearful secrets. It is whispered that once or twice in ahundred years, one among the men of the City escape alone and run to theUncharted Forest, without call or reason. These men do not return. Theyperish from hunger and from the claws of the wild beasts which roam theForest. But our Councils say that this is only a legend. We have heardthat there are many Uncharted Forests over the land, among the Cities.And it is whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many citiesof the Unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed the ruins, and thebones under the ruins, and all the things which perished. And as we lookupon the Uncharted Forest far in the night, we think of the secrets ofthe Unmentionable Times. And we wonder how it came to pass that thesesecrets were lost to the world. We have heard the legends of the greatfighting, in which many men fought on one side and only a few on theother. These few were the Evil Ones and they were conquered. Then greatfires raged over the land. And in these fires the Evil Ones and all thethings made by the Evil Ones were burned. And the fire which is calledthe Dawn of the Great Rebirth, was the Script Fire where all the scriptsof the Evil Ones were burned, and with them all the words of the EvilOnes. Great mountains of flamestood in the squares of the Cities forthree months. Then came the Great Rebirth.
The words of the Evil Ones... The words of the Unmentionable Times...What are the words which we have lost?
May the Council have mercy upon us! We had no wish to write such aquestion, and we knew not what we were doing till we had written it. Weshall not ask this question and we shall not think it. We shall not calldeath upon our head.
And yet... And yet... There is some word, one single word which is notin the language of men, but which had been. And this is the UnspeakableWord, which no men may speak nor hear. But sometimes, and it is rare,sometimes, somewhere, one among men find that word. They find it uponscraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of ancient stones.But when they speak it they are put to death. There is no crime punishedby death in this world, save this one crime of speaking the UnspeakableWord.
We have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the City. Andit was a sight which has stayed with us through the years, and it hauntsus, and follows us, and it gives us no rest. We were a child then, tenyears old. And we stood in the great square with all the children andall the men of the City, sent to behold the burning. They brought theTransgressor out into the square and they led them to the pyre. Theyhad torn out the tongue of the Transgressor, so that they could speak nolonger. The Transgressor were young and tall. They had hair of gold andeyes blue as morning. They walked to the pyre, and their step did notfalter. And of all the faces on that square, of all the faces whichshrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them, theirs was the calmestand the happiest face.
As the chains were wound over their body at the stake, and a flame setto the pyre, the Transgressor looked upon the City. There was a thinthread of blood running from the corner of their mouth, but their lipswere smiling. And a monstrous thought came to us then, which has neverleft us. We had heard of Saints. There are the Saints of Labor, and theSaints of the Councils, and the Saints of the Great Rebirth. But we hadnever seen a Saint nor what the likeness of a Saint should be. And wethought then, standing in the square, that the likeness of a Saint wasthe face we saw before us in the flames, the face of the Transgressor ofthe Unspeakable Word.
As the flames rose, a thing happened which no eyes saw but ours, elsewe would not be living today. Perhaps it had only seemed to us. But itseemed to us that the eyes of the Transgressor had chosen us from thecrowd and were looking straight upon us. There was no pain in their eyesand no knowledge of the agony of their body. There was only joy in them,and pride, a pride holier than is fit for human pride to be. And itseemed as if these eyes were trying to tell us something through theflames, to send into our eyes some word without sound. And it seemed asif these eyes were begging us to gather that word and not to let it gofrom us and from the earth. But the flames rose and we could not guessthe word....
What--even if we have to burn for it like the Saint of the Pyre--what isthe Unspeakable Word?