Lovers of Babel (2 page)

It was a shock for many people to see such an act of violence. It had been 28 years since the old world had passed and not one criminal act under any continent was committed ever since. For some reason on that day, at that time in history, a man decided to become violent without any probable cause to do so. The public erupted into a fury of gossip and speculation. Publications all throughout the underground finally had a news story other than the rise and fall of food prices and credit extensions. This bazaar act of rebellion had enhanced conversations across the world. There were theories thrown back and forth about what could have caused this man to snap. The people in underground Korea figured he had been neglecting a full diet of vitamin D. When living underground the sun was no longer a vital source of this mood enhancing vitamin. They blamed it on the lack of sunlight, but the Australians figured that he’d had plenty. In fact, the citizens often enjoyed a popular fruity cocktail called
ErgoChill
that was plentiful in vitamin D and other mood enhancing ingredients. The Aussies figured the gunman had a vendetta against the new system and was going on a rampage to stir the pot. The Americans saw him as a man who couldn’t assimilate into this new life. He was 18 when Armageddon destroyed the world and was having trouble giving up his individual freedoms. Each theory was credible in its own right, but none was correct. Regardless, this incident caused people to question the security and credibility of this new system. Amias saw this as his opportunity to get what he had always wanted since childhood; the title of leader of the underground. A few days after the incident, he went to the House of Representatives and proposed a theory as to why this violence happened and a solution to it never happening again. He stood confidently in a suit and tie in front of what looked like the seven dwarves dressed in judge robes.

“Sirs I come to you today as a concerned citizen. I was shocked to see a man so desperate that he would end someone’s life for the sake of his own selfish ambition. In the world we live in selfishness is deplorable and cannot be tolerated. And murder certainly cannot be tolerated either, but how can someone think to murder in the first place? In this new world we have all been given equal opportunities to contribute to the advancement of society. There is no need for selfish ambition because we all have a responsibility to serve the state first and foremost. After that, well, there’s not so much left for individual want, right? After all the sustenance and life that is being fed to the system all that should be left is the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our collective labor. Right? Ladies and gentlemen it is very difficult to completely remove the human motivation to want. This is why we are given credits in order to reward the labor so that the individual can enjoy the time that they spend away from work. And although that time may be short, it is precious nonetheless. This only proves that, while the citizens may work long and hard for the union, they still have the ambition to pursue individual happiness. This is a danger to the current system. How long can a system continue to run that produces only limited fruit for the workers while they are constantly told to not seek their own happiness? What happened today is proof that when a person is pushed too hard they will start to push back. What this society needs is a goal. The people need a target to look at, a horizon to fix their eyes upon, a future to look forward to. You think you’re giving them that with credits, but credits run out and must be constantly replenished. What they need is something extra; an internal motivation that will push them even harder without them even noticing. What the system needs is a leader,” Amias said.

The silver-haired speaker spoke up sternly.

“Mr. Riley what you are suggesting completely undermines the purpose of this new operation. In the old world there were always leaders and yet the people continued to destroy each other and themselves
and
the system up until the bitter end. Now, if you think one small incident like the one today proves that we should go back to the way things were before, you are just as manic as the gunman.”

“Mr. Speaker, I am not suggesting we go back to the old system. I’ve read countless books on the old constitution and Declaration of Independence and I don’t think it did what it originally set out to do. However, this current system is missing the only ingredient that the old system had right all along and that is one leader who the people can trust. We can all continue to work for the good of the whole, but with a leader the difference will be more ambition from the people. What good is a system that is run by a bunch of complacent zombies who are always content with the way things are? With this, nothing ever changes or improves, because nobody cares to improve. We must give the people just a little motivation so that the system can continue to
evolve
.”

The oval room rang softly with the last part Amias’s sentence. The house committee sat still contemplating his intriguing proposal. There was not an ounce of color in that room aside from the dull replicas of pastel paintings of Greek gods and goddesses looking down on Amias in frozen judgment. A light chatter commenced between house members. Then there was more silent deliberation. A sudden creek of a chair. A throat cleared.

The last stout and old committee member spoke up. “If, by chance, we do as you suggest and we invite a leader to govern the world, how on earth could this work? How could one person lead an entire world by himself?”

“Vote for me and I promise I’ll lead this society to a better life underground and on into the new world.  If I fail as leader you can impeach me.”

The committee members were irresolute about giving such power to one man, but they were desperate to gain the citizens trust again. The last thing the underground needed was more rules and regulation. The people needed something different. They needed a new horizon. Amias had a good reputation around the elite circles and was often praised for his leadership skills.  He was an independent thinker and was painfully intelligent. If anyone were to be leader, anyone who could gain the people’s trust again, it would be Amias Riley.

The stout committee member stood up and announced that they would accept his proposal under the condition that Amias would only use his power for good. Amias nodded his head.

“Of course sirs. I would never think of using it for anything else.”

And while he crossed his fingers on the hand behind his back, he saluted the committee with the other.

“I am honored to serve you and the citizens of the underground.”

The Astronomer

It was late one summer night, two years before their ascent to the surface of the earth, when an excited astronomer was making his way back underground. He had been slaving over a new breakthrough experiment for a few years and now he would see a positive conclusion for his hypothesis. Many other scientists and physicists doubted his prediction immediately upon hearing it. On his journey back underground, the astronomer recalled a man by the name of Fabian
Klerinzky who told him he was crossing the border between concrete science and metaphysics, and that while that line was thin, it should never be crossed unless there is unquestionable proof to justify it. The astronomer was no physicist and he only knew the science of space, but he was sure by his calculations that the Mayans were right about what would happen to human consciousness after the apocalypse. His colleagues called his hypothesis New Age philosophy and that it would never stand up against the deafening scientific evidence to the contrary.  The astronomer knew they were right, but he also knew that when the universe had shifted into an unbelievable ball of focused energy, the energy source within us would have no choice but to shift too. It was an elaborate prediction reminiscent of old age 2012 conspiracy theories and Mayan fanatics. He had every scientist in the Underground cringe every time he walked into a room. Science galas were a chore for the astronomer. Every conversation would start off with “so how is your Nirvana experiment coming along?” This was the nickname that was given to his project. He was not taken seriously, he was losing his credibility, he was the butt of every joke about the surface, and he was about to make them all eat their words.

             
He took an elevator-type contraption down a few thousand feet. His body was adjusting to the difference in air pressure. With each ascending foot of earth he felt the weight of the world collapsing upon him. Approximately five hours ago he was at the surface of the earth; a place that he never saw as a child. The only exposure he had to the surface was when his father read stories to him about the old world and their Indian heritage; a culture that wilted away once the world united under one civilization. The young astronomer used to study pictures of the environment and he would imagine what it was like to dirty his hands in the soil and dig out worms.

When he reached the surface and saw how it had changed
, he was unsure of what he was seeing. He looked up and saw the night sky for the first time. There were steaks of color in random places and the stars twinkled almost mechanically. The ground was fluorescent and had a pulse. With every apprehensive step he took it beat softly creating a background rhythm amidst the silence of new earth. He had a contraption around his head reminiscent of an astronaut that fed him oxygen just in case the surface lost oxygen or the radiation levels were still fatal. In actuality, he could’ve been an astronaut walking on the surface of the moon; where all the other planets were within eye sight and gravity was nonexistent. Only he didn’t bob up and down as he walked, instead there was lightness to his steps allowing him to move faster while conserving energy.

             
It was night and the stars were brighter and nearer than ever. He was tempted to reach for them, but in his peripheral he saw what looked like a tree. Only, this tree was twenty feet tall and fluorescent blue with gold leaves. He walked over to it and touched the trunk and it too had a pulse. He was in awe. The colors of the earth were vast. What was left after the apocalypse was a new world entirely. What was green was now more vibrant than before. What was alive yet immobile now had a pulse and a presence. He felt a sense of oneness with the earth unlike ever before and for reasons unknown, it scared him to death.

             
He spun anxiously around looking at the transformed earth. He ran his hand nervously through his brown hair while taking in this alien environment. There was no sign of any creatures or birds in the sky. The moon was dangerously close and the grass was hugging his moon boots. He looked toward the horizon and all he saw were more fluorescent trees ranging in color. He walked over to a small body of water that looked like aurora borealis on the surface. Colors blue, pink, yellow and green were swirling and gleaming from the pond. He wanted to jump in and immerse himself in this new earth, but was too apprehensive. What if this was all an illusion or a mirage of some kind? Maybe the oxygen in his space helmet was up too high. He bent down to gather a sample of water. He steadily placed his brown hand on the surface when suddenly he saw a reflection in the water of a beast charging toward him at full speed. He fell back, turned to run away and there it was in the distance running at him like a bull. He backed away in a panic still on the ground and he saw the beast was a mammoth; the kind that he read about in science books that roamed the earth with dinosaurs.
What in the world!? How could this be?
He thought.
The mammoth was getting closer and larger. He struggled to get back on his feet, but couldn’t get a grip on the fluorescent grass. “Oh no! Help! Somebody!” He saw fluorescent liquid splattering from the mammoth’s gigantic hooves. It was close enough to smell. He closed his eyes in a last attempt to shield himself.
Maybe he won’t see me anymore if I close my eyes. Maybe I’ll just disappear
. Suddenly, the beast stopped charging. The astronomer, whose eyes were still closed, slowly opened one eye at a time. To his astonishment there was suddenly a forest in between him and the mammoth. Just a few seconds before, the mammoth was only a couple of yards away and now there was a real rainforest that had shrouded him from being that beast’s dinner. He was stupefied. He looked for the small body of water that he saw before to see if by some miracle he transported into another place, but it was still there. The ground was still fluorescent, but the forest was not. However, it appeared to be unreal. It looked like it was painted.

He touched the trees and the bark stained his hand with pastel brown. He began to walk deeper into the trees and they were all painted. There were birds chirping in the trees and monkeys swinging from branches. They too were painted. A monkey was eating a painted berry by the astronomer’s foot and he bent down to touch its fur. He smeared away the small strokes of hair and the monkey escaped into a tree to finish consuming his artificial food. The astronomer looked up and around and was trying to make sense of what was happening. The forest was spinning around him faster and faster until the colors blended together forming a whirlwind of colors. Then he stopped and looked up at the top of a painted tree. There, perched on a branch amidst burgundy strokes, was a toucan with an orange beak. He immediately knew then what it was that he was looking at. It was a memory from his childhood come to life.