He descends the stairs. “Thanks for showing us where to find the food. That was cool of you.” We walk out into the opening. “No one will probably tell you this, but those pills suck.” He touches my hand and we stop. “When I say thanks, I really mean it. Thank you.”
“Sure.” I tremble. “I’m sorry you can’t use it.”
Purity shrugs. “Old people eventually die. Besides, Dad’s so sly that we’ll be eating real food every day.” We walk out of the stairway and back into the metal hallways that are lit with fire on sticks. I eagerly follow him hoping I finally found a friend.
We acknowledge the people walking down the hallways. There are sliding doors every twenty feet. Purity explains that families receive housing based on their number size; the bigger families live in the agriculture zone. The one’s throughout the complex are for newlyweds, or singles.
When we reach the end of the hall, Purity goes up a level. He holds the door open for me. “Thank you,” I say and walk into blackness. Not even my auditory senses can derive a vibration. Nothing seems to live on this level.
Purity comes in behind me with a torch. He nudges my lower back. “Don’t worry, it only looks scary.” He snickers and walks down the hall. “We’re actually not supposed to be up here.” He pauses and looks at me. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“Not a word,” I say and move closer to him.
“Cool,” he says and begins walking again. I can’t help but feel we’re on an adventure. I laugh a little, and then squash its manic capabilities. “When they were building this place they had every intention of developing it with all the technologies of the times, but when the purge hit they only had enough time to finalize the air system and the door locks.” Purity opens a door and flips a switch. A large room stretches further than I can see. “They built a work room with electrical power so that they could continue their science.” Purity points into a corner where half of a large black boat rests. “Before the Seers took over, the scientist began building a boat that would take all of us to an envisioned island.”
We walk down the stairs. “Why did they stop?”
“There was some kind of explosion that ended the life of the scientists.” Purity walks over to the contraption that rises to the sky, at its base are drawings on white paper. “But we have all of the schematics and blueprints to go ahead with the project.”
“But the Seers don’t think it’s necessary?”
Purity leans against the boat. His black hair falls over one of his eyes. “They’re eyes are too fearful to see the island.”
I walk around the room and gaze at all of the half contraptions lying about on tables and the floor. There are power tools lying about, and plans to develop better medical facilities. There are things for something known as a car, clothing, and ideas to force the ground to grow food for them. Gadgets to clean the atmosphere were also in the works. Why would they halt all of this progress? Better yet, why do they listen to the ones that stop them? “What do the two of them possess that the lot of you need?”
“What do you mean?”
“All of this is outstanding, yet no one’s touched it because they ordered you not to. Why do you listen to them?”
Purity ambles over. “Fifty five people died in that explosion. Zero have died from unnatural causes since then.” Purity places his hand on my arm. “I may not agree with them all the time, but they have seen the will of the Universe, they know what it wishes of us.” Purity steps away. “So we wait for the Universe to direct our next step, and when the instructions come we will need as many live bodies as possible.”
Stones instead of feathers pollute my stomach. Somehow I am unable to wrap my head around this way of thinking. They believe in the Universe and that they are servants. Yet they follow the sight of two seers that tell them to sit still. No, no I don’t agree with this method. They should continue with their developments. I know in my gut it will save them.
The walk back to the light is silent. There is so much going on inside of me that I don’t realize Purity has stopped until I run into him. His muscled fingers lace around my arms and steady me. I stare into his brown eyes, and I see kindness. “You okay?” He asks.
I nod and move away from him. I thought this might be a place I could call home, but I can’t live among people who have the ability to better themselves and others, but choose to wait. What exactly are they waiting for?
Purity looks at me for a moment longer than opens a door. There are at least twenty people sitting with their legs crossed in front of them and their hands resting on their legs. They do not speak or see, but sit in total silence. Purity whispers, “This is the temple. We come here to spend time with the Universe, and seek guidance.” Purity backs away and slides the door shut. “What we see and hear, we tell the Seers and they decipher the meaning.”
“Can’t you do that yourself?” I ask.
“No, it’s too intricate for us. We would interpret it wrong.” I wonder who told them that. As we walk back through the halls decorated with pictures of people with whiter faces than mine and symbols of strange lines, I can’t help but feel apart. There is some measure of me that has settled in, but the remainder isn’t quite connecting. They should finish the boat, I feel it in my heart, that they will soon need it.
Purity slides open the door to agriculture zone. We walk by the large living complexes when the ground begins to shake. The vibrations rattle the buildings and we are thrown off of our feet. My head smashes into the ground as the infrastructure crumbles around us. Blurs of visions appear and then I’m lost in another world.
Chapter 8
Purity’s brown eyes are the first thing I see before I notice the rubble caked around us. The boy is lying flat on his stomach, he doesn’t move. Tears are racing down his face, but he doesn’t speak or cry out. I wipe away bits of rubble and scoot over to him. My body is too battered to actually get up.
I run my hand through his hair. “What is it Purity?” I ask him. No words or movements come from him. I run my hand down his back, but he does not respond to my touch. I knock the rubble off and still he does not respond.
Rushing feet grabs my attention. I see Dr. Nu hurrying over to us. He drops down to Purity’s side and replaces my hand. “Purity!” Again silence only comes from him.
Dr. Nu looks up at me. “Where is Kintin?”
“We left her with Roark in the picture room. That was about an hour ago,” I say.
“Good, good she’s up high,” Dr. Nu says still rubbing his son down. I’m not sure he heard what I said. He’s having a hard time holding back his tears.
Naveen screams and tosses her body over Purity. “What’s wrong with him?”
Dr. Nu’s eyes glaze over before he pulls Naveen into his arms. They stay like that for a while longer and then he greets her eyes. “There is nothing anyone can do Naveen. He’s paralyzed; the elders are going to take his life.”
“No!” She shouts and pushes away from Dr. Nu and puts her body over her son again. Tears continue to stream down his face. I hold onto his hand and rock. “There was a time when a simple procedure would have healed him.” Mama used to tell me stories of how the world was so advanced that no one remained ill longer than two hours.
This society has the equipment and the past knowledge to help their people. Why wouldn’t they use it? Then I look around and I see people gathering in the center. They’re on their hands and knees rocking and screaming something to the sky.
“What are they doing?” I ask them.
“Preparing their chi to return to the Universe,” Dr. Nu says. His face is down cast and every now and again he looks at his son. “That was the worst quake yet; they’re coming more and more frequent now.” Just like Garden Home.
