What am I?” Paul asked.
He seemed to be floating in an empty space. He felt
wind violently tossing his greasy black hair against his face. There was
something like smoke all around him. It was so thick that it didn’t seem to be
affected by the wind. There was a flash of light every once in a while which
barely broke through the dense fog. But the darkness was clear. It penetrated
the smoky gloom and surrounded its victim like it was ready to crush it into
nothingness. But it didn’t.
“What am I?” Paul repeated, but he wasn’t sure who
he was asking. Was he asking the darkness? Or was he asking the flashes of
light?
“What am I?”
He could hear no voice from the darkness or from the
light answering him. He was terrified. His arms and legs were steady, hanging
from his body as if they were bound by the darkness. His left hand started
rising towards his eyes but the darkness blocked it from sight. Another flash
of light burst through for a moment and there upon his wrist he saw something
which horrified him.
Paul awoke. He had lived a rather extravagant 37
years, extravagant compared to his fellow citizens. He enjoyed life because he
made sure he was surrounded by everything that he enjoyed. He always had his
favourite foods stocked in his food locker. His favourite people made their
dwelling in the same housing unit and his least favourite people lived on the
other side of the Rock. He had money – enough to ensure his own continued good
looks, whenever he saw something appear upon his complexion which he disliked
he would simply call up the Youth Doc to get it removed.
“Morning Paul,” said a small humble sort of a voice
from across the housing unit bedroom.
“Morning Thomas,” replied Paul as he sat up out of
his bed grasping his left wrist to see a mediocre middle-sized man standing
before him. He noticed that the other three beds in the room were made up and
unoccupied and he could see through the doorway into the eating chambers that
the Sunday food locker slots were all empty except for his own. Paul was used
to being the last one up but this was the first time Thomas had ever awoken
him.
“Did you hear the news Paul?” asked Thomas eagerly,
“But of course you have, the Council of Dreams is going to make an appearance
at the Rock today! The others have already gone; we must leave immediately if
we want to get a good view!”
“What? I don’t remember receiving that message,”
replied Paul, “When did you get it?”
“Why last night of course, you should really start
paying more attention to your dreams Paul.”
Paul had never dreamed the same dreams as everyone
else, although he had always acted as if he had so that no one would think less
of him. He had always wondered about this Council of Dreams and why they never
sent him any dreams. Curious for an answer, Paul hurriedly prepared to leave
for the Rock.
Paul and Thomas rushed through housing unit after
housing unit until they reached the closest elevator to the Rock. They squeezed
inside with all the other excited citizens. Then up it rose, straight out of
the building heading up higher and higher towards the Rock. Its wheels against
the track made no sound and all the people fell silent as they gazed with
admiration at the endless sea of housing units below and the thousands of other
elevators rising silently on their tracks towards the Rock. The Rock was a
massive mountain which rose in the middle of the World; it was more massive
than the millions of housing units which surrounded it. Every citizen of the
World worked inside it somewhere and right on top was the palace which housed
the Council of Dreams.
Masses of citizens gathered around the palace in
eager anticipation to hear from their leaders. A horn was blown and a hush fell
across the crowd. No one uttered a sound. From the top of the palace rose a
platform higher and higher and there sat the seven council members all dressed
in long white coats. The Speaker arose and headed toward a podium in the middle
of the platform.
“Citizens of the World, thank you for gathering here
today. We know that you all must be very inquisitive as to why we have asked to
see you all today outside of your dreams. We felt that what we have to say
today should not be said in a dream.
“You have all heard the stories of our World’s great
history. How citizens of planet earth were corrupt and worked against each
other for their own individual interests. They destroyed their planet as a
result and so they died with it. But a few of the citizens of earth left that
place in order to start anew. Their goal was to build a new home, one whose
citizens worked together for its good. And now thanks to your harmonious labour
for the World’s wellbeing this has been achieved!”
And then something happened, something that left
Paul still and speechless. They fell, all at once every single citizen fell to
the ground around him, everyone except for Paul. Paul stood motionless thinking
he must still be dreaming. He looked all around him and there was nothing but
lifeless bodies lying on top of the Rock as far as the eye could see. Paul’s shocked
face looked up towards the platform and there stood the Speaker still and
silent as ever.
“Hello Paul,” said the Speaker.
Paul stood deathly still. His strength in every part
of his body failed him. There was nothing but silence and seven pairs of eyes
on him. He was confused and troubled.
“The time has finally come Paul. We are incredibly
disappointed that it has had to come to this but it’s time for you to go back
to Earth and join your people. This place’s purpose has unfortunately failed us
yet again.”
Paul’s mind was racing. He was incredibly confused
expecting to wake up again at any moment. He decided in his head that this must
be a dream. This made him feel slightly better and so he replied, “But you just
said the earth was destroyed by the old citizens. I was born in the World. I
know nothing of earth besides what you just said about our history. I am surely
not one of those people. I am a part of the harmonious labour team in the
Rock.”
“My friend, you were born on earth and you are
exactly like those people,” said the Speaker, “did you not notice differences
between yourself and the citizens of the World? They all had the same dreams,
you did not. They were always content with their current situations, you always
wanted more. They never caused fights or divisions amongst themselves, you
discriminated between those you liked and disliked. They were perfectly good,
you rarely did good and even when you did it was always looking out for
yourself. Don’t you see? They were programmed to be perfect and to dream good
dreams. You are human.”
Paul was feeling confused and troubled again. He
always knew that he was different from the others. In a last attempt to
convince himself of the absurdity of the Speaker’s words he replied
sarcastically, “What are you saying? That they’re all robots or something?”
“Yes, Paul. They are – robots designed to be
perfect, programmed to be the complete opposite of the humans of earth. We
thought if we could surround a human who had not yet been subject to the evil
influences of his own people with perfect creatures, that we could save that
human from the evil of his people. You are our seven hundredth subject and the
last. It would seem that evil comes from within rather than without.”
Paul was dumbstruck. His entire universe had just
been shattered. All he knew, thought he knew, was a lie. But he had questions
and could think of nothing better to do than to ask them, “Who is the Council
of Dreams then? Are you perfect? What will I do on earth? How will I get
there?”
“We are scientists and engineers who seek after what
is good. We are humans who see man’s problem and want to cure it. We created
the citizens of the World and built everything on this planet with them. We
have tested subject after subject here, but to no avail. We have tried to save
mankind and start a perfect generation, but alas we have failed.
“You will be transported back to earth by our
machines and you will join your people. What you do there is none of our
concern. As for the Council, we will continue looking for a solution. Goodbye
Paul.”
Paul suddenly noticed something appear on his left
wrist and then he vanished. The platform lowered back into the palace and the
Speaker took his seat troubled to the core. He examined his left wrist. A black
mark like a tattoo bracelet greeted his eyes as they filled with tears.
“It will take something more than us or our
creations to save us,” said a voice from across the platform now inside the
palace, “We cannot remove the mark.”
The Speaker looked up and replied gravely, “Yes, I
see that now. Why do we even try? What urges us to seek after salvation? No
matter what we do the mark remains,” he was weeping now.
“We found the mark. Perhaps salvation must find us,”
replied the voice.
The Speaker fell to his knees in mourning, “I give
up! Here I am! Salvation, find me!”
Before he had finished speaking he noticed a change
in his mark. Something like a flash of light seemed to break through…
The End
