After all of that earlier today it is good to be
back on the trail above Foothill on this late afternoon. A nice breeze now. I
think this was the longest day ever for me. At least the longest day lately. And
a tiring day. But I have a lot of energy now. A clear view over The Basin. I go
up the path and hardly feel I am touching the ground. I like the green leaf
vines that grow out of and up on the cut-away side of the hills next to the
trail. This is close to my favorite bench. Some patches of the leaves have turned
a light red. Maybe someone has a magic touch where you put their hand on the
leaves and they turn red. I’ll be careful I don’t fall asleep when I get to my bench.
It
is quiet on the trail. It is getting foggy. I see another hiker close by looking
at the vines. He is about my age and looks familiar to me. But he is no one I
can remember exactly. I turn to start up the trail again and see that he touches
a small section of the green vines with the palm of his hand and they turn a
light red. I think I say something in surprise and he turns towards me and says
“oh it’s you Willson.” He has a bright friendly smile “I won’t ask you about
the first day at the new job.” His looks change slightly as he moves his head but
he still looks familiar. “Do I know you?” I could have just said hello. “No,
but we know you Willson. We last saw you at the Pier. We especially like the
healthy food there from Butterfat Faire.
So you get out and around, most of you just stay in the same place.” You? That’s
me?
I must look very confused. I don’t think of
anything to say. “We have been watching you for some time now Willson.” Me?
“You are unusual. You are curious about stuff. And you are right; you did miss
some important meetings.” I always thought that! “But those meetings really do
not matter. They are only for the unimaginative. The inadequate. You are better
for not attending. You had no answers given you, and so you are curious about
your world. You were not told who to fear, and so you are not afraid. So you
are open to others. And that is why you listen to people who can teach you.” I don’t
know what to say. “The meetings are for the dull, the conventional. Those who
believe afterwards that they have nothing else to learn.” I feel I have to sit
down. “Has anyone talked to you about this?”
“No.” That’s all I can think to say. “Because you
are curious you can advance in the way you think about things. Do you remember
seeing the abandoned cars along the river in Dominion?” How did they know about
that? “Willson you were logical. You thought the cars were there by the rivers
so that they could easily be taken away and their parts re-used. You thought
that because you assumed someone would have already thought of that very
logical system. The obvious is not always the rational. What you will realize
next in your thinking is that what you saw is most likely nothing other than
what you saw, cars and other junk abandoned along the river.” “Then what should
I think after that?” “Think about that Willson. What are the possibilities?” I
did not think of the answer, “what is it?” “When you realize what it is it will
be as logical as your first conclusion.” I want to know now, “are you going to
tell me?” “You won’t advance like that Willson. You will see in time. And that will
complete your thinking about what you saw there.”
“Who are you?”
“We are us, much like you.”
“Where are you from?”
“Here. We have always been here.”
“Do you talk to other people?”
“Oh yes, we talk to a lot of you.”
“Why then does no one ever say anything about you?”
“They don’t remember. You won’t remember.”
“What do you mean? Why won’t I?”
He turns his palm towards me. I feel cold. Everything
around me turns cold and I feel the ground come up and hit me.
***
My first week is finally over. I am in the
Foothill Library again, at one of the long polished tables recording the rest
of Orientation Week in my Journal. First though, as I do, I catch up on the
newspapers.
The Territorial Legislature of Czonaloqkos
has temporarily allowed ‘Independent Dueling’ as a ‘demonstration program’ to
try to lower the rate of ‘bystander involvement’ injuries from gun ‘exchanges’
between ‘free’ citizens. The article adds that the governing Legislature down in
LoneStar is watching the program with interest.
Jared’s
latest composition Bad Apples: The
Undesirable Element (The Bad Neighborhood Suite), is selling well. The song
most popular is She gets to keep the new Car;
I’m on a bus to LoneStar. The suite includes the earlier Will I be a Good Apple Someday? and a
newer song How Good could You be if You
didn’t know how Bad you Were?
The
paper also says that his group will perform in support of Singh Chapanakus, who
is going to be the candidate of The Hope Party
for
Nation’s President. I guess they have to have someone run. No one thinks that
Party is ever going to win.
The news has a short piece that Stuhl’s Third Precept was going to be released,
but it is delayed again.
Reuben’s TV
show The Scrupps has been on for a
while now. The newspaper has a long article about how the
show is a hit. Maybe I was wrong about it. Maybe it is not like I thought it would be like back when I
read the summaries Reuben showed me. They must have made the plots more
intelligent for it to last this long. I tried to watch a few episodes early on
but couldn’t finish them. I will look to watch an episode this
evening. Then I go out to the University
tomorrow to look around.
***
I open my eyes. The ground is hard. There is light
enough to see. I look up through the spaces in the seat and the back of the bench
and see the mountains outlined. The sun must be coming up soon. I reach behind
me to push myself up and my foot and my hand go off into nothingness. The cliff
that drops off at the edge of the trail in front of the bench. That wakes me up
fast. I roll over towards the bench and grab a leg with both hands and hold on
for a moment before I pull myself up on my feet. I wobble. It takes a little
while for me to fully understand where I am.
I sit back down on the bench, cold and a little
dirty. I have to be at The Center soon! I get up and brush myself
off. I think I can just make it back down the trail to home, get cleaned up and
make it in on time. I stumble off on my way. I am hungry; I think I would like
a ‘bacon and peanut butter fried bread sandwich.’
***
This morning as I arrived at The Center just in time for my second day I see a crew of workers I
don’t recognize walking towards the scaffolding and ladders at the wall
followed by two supervisors I don’t recognize. The workers are carrying paint
and brushes. The supervisors are yelling at the workers to move faster.
After going back and forth between Security
offices and finally going into the main Security
Citadel behind a large vaulted door do I receive my ‘Center Identification
Badge’ so now I can walk into The Center
without stops for security checks. This is a serious possession I am told and
that because of my military background and generally good ‘permanent record’
and mostly because of what job I will have to do and where I will be working my
badge has a strip of red color on it. The Head of Security tells me, with an attitude
of disgust and contempt, that this is the highest ‘Security Clearance’ in The Center. His hands are shaking as he
hands me the badge. I wonder why I make people angry sometimes. After I hang
the badge around my neck I realize that most of the people I have seen so far
have badges with a white strip, or some are yellow or blue. I had not thought
much about the colors before. The white strip is for the messengers,
secretaries, clerks. I learn that the Security Guards badges have a strip of
blue. As do the people who operate heating and cooling, make the electricity
work, and fix the computers and other equipment. Accountants and most managers
have a strip of yellow. Most engineers and designers have a strip of green. And
so do the very top managers. They know important things but they don’t know all
things. Only the senior Engineers and others who develop or build the complete
projects of the Center wear the red stripe. A badge of any color can enter an
area the color permits and all lower color areas. But you cannot enter as area
higher than your color permits. The badges do more than just make machines beep
and gates open for me. I can go anywhere in Center!
Today I will first learn of some of the
technological innovations Center has
made in the past that helps transportation and industries operate ‘more better.’
The directions I have lead me to a small room with a stage and audience seating
down in front. I am there just as the program is scheduled to begin. The man I
recognize from the Interview as Manager in People
Resource is seated at the edge of the stage. There is a speaking station
in the middle of the stage. A group of students from Institute carrying small computers and wearing temporary white
strip visitor badges are already seated in the audience, but no one else is.
They all turn towards me as I take a seat. The Manager looks over at me; his
face turns red like before as he stands. “We can get started now finally.”
(continued
on Page 2)
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