As the Guardian came up behind Gabrielle, the alarms that had been blaring suddenly stopped. Right before her eyes one by one, each of her gauges fell to zero. Shocked, she realized that her station had been deactivated. She turned in place to the Guardian, and put her hands up in front her, unsure what was about to happen. She did not have the presence of mind to look for or locate where the Guardian held its control stick. Her hands shook, and tears still ran from her eyes.
“Be calm.” The Guardian said, as it stood inches from her.
“My station-” She began. “My station was deactivated.” She managed to get out.
“Be calm.” The Guardian repeated. A few seconds passed, and then, “This station was in fault. It has been deactivated.” It said. Seconds ticked by, the Guardian still did not move. “You are in no danger.” It said. Suddenly it stepped back, and Gabrielle dropped her hands, still unsure of what would happen next. Seconds passed again, and then the Guardian spoke. “You have been dismissed for today. Exit the factory.”
Bewildered, Gabrielle stepped cautiously away from her station, and slowly exited the room. She never took her eyes away from the Guardian, that remained motionless. She saw the control stick clearly now. It had never left the Guardian’s side. She quickly made her way to the return road. How unusual she thought, as she saw the road completely empty, and she began her journey back to the village. She was alone on the road. Alone on the road with her thoughts.
She thought herself lucky that she was simply dismissed by the Guardian. Her station had been in fault, no doubt about that, and it was surely her fault. She had been too distracted to complete her task effectively, and it obviously led to the fault. Tomorrow she would do better, hopefully. Hopefully she would find out that Jericho was okay tonight, and all would be well. She felt sure that as she worked at her station tomorrow, it would be okay, she thought. At the thought of maybe seeing Jericho, she picked up her pace. Soon she would back at the village, and might be one of the first in the meal building. She decided she would camp out there waiting for Rebecca to find out what had happened, or hopefully Jericho, so that she could see with her own eyes that he was okay. She so hoped that he was. She would eat very slowly, that way she would still be there when she or he showed up. Very slow, she told herself, as she hurried faster down the road.
Shortly she had reached the end of the road, and as she looked around she did not see Rebecca or Jericho anywhere. She had barely seated herself in the meal building, when Sarah came across the room towards her. Gabrielle had known Sarah for a number of years, even before Sarah had become linked to her husband. When Sarah’s first child had come, she and Gabrielle had talked for hours about what to name the little boy. He was such a cute bundle of joy, with his little fat arms and legs, and chubby little cheeks, and that shock of black hair that sat on the very top of his head. Gabrielle had come up with every variation of Jericho that she could, but Sarah continued to shoot down her ideas. Sarah and James, her husband, wanted something simple. A one syllable name that was easy to say and remember. James’s favorite had been Tog, but Sarah refused to allow that.
“My son is not going to be named Tog.” She had adamantly said. Her favorite name had been Bit, but James was dead set against it.
“No way! Bit! That’s crazy.” He had said.
“But he’s just a Bit of a thing.” She had said lovingly. But, as so often happens in these types of negotiations, they had named their son, Lucas. Gabrielle still did not understand it, but they liked it, and that’s what mattered.
“Gabby, you’re not going to believe it!” Sarah said, as she sat her tray down and took the seat across from Gabrielle.
“Sarah, have you seen Jericho or Rebecca?” She asked.
“No. Not yet.” She replied.
“I really need to talk to them, or one of them, or both of them.” Gabrielle was getting flustered.
“Gabby! What’s up?” Sarah asked.
“Jericho was controlled.” She blurted out. “Didn’t you hear?”
“Wow. I heard someone at the factory was, yesterday, but I didn’t know it was Jericho.” She said concerned. “Is he okay?” She asked.
“I don’t know Sarah.” She dropped her eyes to her tray. “I haven’t been able to find out anything yet. I hope he’s okay.” She said sadly.
“Look!” Sarah exclaimed. “There’s Rebecca!” She waived across the room to Rebecca who had just entered building. Rebecca waived back, and continued ahead in line. It would be a few more minutes before she would be able to make her way to the table.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. What were you going to tell me when you first sat down?” Gabrielle asked.
“It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. You’ve got enough on your mind.” She said.
“No, it’s okay Sarah. I could use something to keep my mind off this for a bit.”
“Bit. Very funny.” Sarah laughed. “That’s what I wanted to tell you.” She said excitedly.
“What? Something new with Lucas?” Gabrielle asked, as she smiled slightly.
“Kind of.” Sarah replied. “He is going to have a sister!” She exclaimed, as she beamed at the idea.
“You received the notice?” Gabrielle asked, astonished.
“Yep. Just yesterday.” Sarah said as she nodded her head.
“Wow. When do you go in? For the implant?” Gabrielle asked.
“Next week. The notice said the embryo is ready to go.”
“I didn’t even know that you had applied?” Gabrielle asked.
“We didn’t. It wasn’t like it was with Lucas, where we applied and waited for the notice. Come on Gabby, you know how it is, the rule says you have to have the second child before the first turns two years old, and Lucas just turned one you know.” She giggled, “So what do you think we should name her?” Sarah asked.
Sarah was right, Gabrielle thought. She was quite aware of how it worked. She and Jericho had talked about it many times. Under law, every unlinked individual must link by the age 25, or they would be notified of their selected mate, and immediately the linking would take place. Every newly linked couple must apply for their first child within the first year of marriage. Once approved they would then receive notice of the scheduled implant, and the viable embryo would be implanted and carried to term. Parents knew that the first child would always be male, and the second child would always be female. If the parents did not apply for the second child on their own within the specified time frame, they would be notified automatically when the second embryo was ready for implantation. The rule was every family had two children. One male, and one female.
“I still like Bit.” Gabrielle said, as she smiled, just as Rebecca sat down. Sarah laughed.
“Still nothing.” Rebecca said, her face still a picture of worry.
“Nothing from your dad?” Asked Gabrielle.
“Nothing. But I haven’t seen him since this morning.” Rebecca said. Her face suddenly lit up. “There he is!” She exclaimed as she jumped up and waived at Jericho as he entered the building.
She did not notice as the Guardian nearest them turned towards her, as it instantly reacted to her outburst. From across the room, Jericho had seen the subtle movement of the Guardian, and motioned for her to sit down and put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Rebecca caught the signal and shut up and sat down, but still did not notice the Guardian, which had not moved in their direction, but was obviously now focused on them. Gabrielle had not noticed the Guardian either, but gave Jericho a quick discreet wave, which he stealthily returned, and continued in line. Jericho had seen the Guardian’s quick reaction, and it had seemed like the room had been completely empty except for himself and Guardian. Had they always reacted so quickly, he wondered to himself. Had they always been so fast to lock in on a loud voice, or fast motion? Had they always silently began to move towards him and his friends, and they had never noticed it? Or was it his newly heig
htened sense of their presence, that he now noticed these things. One thing he that knew for sure, was that it did not matter. His new rule was to do nothing to attract the attention of a Guardian, and it was a rule that he would teach Gabrielle as soon as possible.
Once Jericho finally had his tray, and was seated beside Gabrielle, she knew that her life would be okay. He was alive. He was safe. And he was hungry. He began to shovel his food into his mouth as fast as he could, and paused only to burp and nod at the questions that he was being peppered with.
“Did they hurt you?” Rebecca asked. He nodded, and chewed.
“Are you okay?” Gabrielle asked. He nodded, and took a drink.
“Did they just let you go?” Sarah asked. He nodded, burped, and put more grey mush into his mouth.
Finally, his hunger satiated, and he slowed down, as he remembered that once he was done, he must exit the building. He toyed at the wafer, nibbled a piece off and chewed. He chased it down with a bit of red liquid, and began to tell them the whole story. He cut out all of the worst parts. The agonizing pain. The tears. And especially the urine soaked pants. He was quickly able to get to the last part. The part he still could not quite believe himself.
“And so a door opened, and the Guardian says that I’m free to go.” He said as he shook his head. “I mean there I am sitting on the floor, my heart’s beating through my chest. Its reaching for me, and I think its gonna control me again.” He took another swallow of his drink. “But it was helping me up. Telling me I was free to go.” He said.
“How?” was all that Gabrielle, or anyone at the table could think to ask.
“That’s exactly what I said.” He laughed a little. “How?” He asked as he put his cup into its holder on the tray.
“Well?” Rebecca asked expectantly.
“Its picking me up by the arm, and I’m asking how, and it says in that mechanical voice, that the other had admitted their disobedience.” He said.
“Other?” Gabrielle asked. “As in Donovan?” She asked in disbelief.
“Exactly.” Said Jericho. “I asked it, if Donovan had admitted, but it just repeated the same thing. The other, it said. But it has to be Donovan. There’s no one else it could have been talking about.” He said, just about finished with the last of his meal. They were all almost finished.
“Well if he admitted disobedience then it must be his punishment that’s tonight in the square.” Said Sarah.
“Punishment?” Asked Gabrielle. “I didn’t see a notice.” She said.
“It came out this afternoon. The notice said that it’s scheduled for right after the evening meal, so it must be about to start any minute.” Sarah replied.
“I don’t want to know about it.” Gabrielle said. “This whole thing has me just sick.”
“Gabrielle.” Jericho said softly. “I have to go.”
“Go. You mean to the punishment? Are the Guardians requiring you to be there? Is this part of your own punishment?” Gabrielle asked, distressed.
“No. Nothing like that. They didn’t even mention it. But I have to go. Donovan or not. Wrong or not. I have to see this. I have to see this through to its end.” He said.
Chapter 8