The Forest's Edge

By Ines Galiano

After the Black Years, the citizens of Civis, inhabitants of the caves took refuge underground and made a Pact with the inhabitants of the greenhouses, in the city of Silva. And so began the second era of civilization and still today, four hundred and fifty years later, the Pact is still observed. Vogel is one of the fifty-two apprentices beginning his period of instruction in Civis, but the forest has other plans for him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: May 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507107331

Book preview

2 VOGEL

He had been there for two weeks but still could not get used to the sacrifice. It was strange to see how people would volunteer themselves and give their lives for everyone else. For some reason, something just was not right. Like it was also not right that the others should use them as food. The mere idea of it made him ill. He could not understand how such an absurd agreement could still be in force.

But he had only been in Civis for two weeks, and as Lerdre had said, he would become accustomed to it. The main problem was that at the University they never told them anything, did not prepare them for what they would find outside. They spent their childhood and adolescent years preparing their minds and bodies, but living in ignorance. It was a big shock at first for newcomers, but the other recent arrivals seemed to be adapting quicker than he. 

They had arrived two weeks ago to begin what would be from now on their adaptation period. They would spend three years at the apprentice phase with the different guilds in Civis, until, upon reaching legal age, they would begin their adult and socially productive lives. So said the Law.

However, for some reason he could not feel at ease in what would be his city. Something made him feel out of place and he did not know why.

It could be the fact that the rest of the apprentices looked a great deal younger than he.

Or maybe he looked older than the rest. But no, that was not the problem, after all it was not nor would it be the first time that a student at the University took a double dose of hormones by mistake.

No, the main problem was in his head. He was not able to remember all of the things that his peers remembered, and most of the time he found himself confused. But the worst thing of all were the dreams, those dreams that he would have over and over again until he woke up tired and stunned. Those meaningless dreams where he would see a green world, full of forests and prairies, rivers and winding mountain roads. Worlds that no longer existed.

He had heard of cases where the adaptation injection had gone wrong and the recipient had lost his mind or physical senses.  There had not been a solution in any of those cases: the adaptation injection was never given twice because of extremely high risk; however Civis could not take care of any invalids either.

People diagnosed with a C were turned over for sacrifice, and even though the law prohibited that minors be used for sacrifice, in these cases the law’s age requirement was overlooked. In Civis there was no room for divergent minds.

For that reason, Vogel had not spoken to anyone about his lack of memory, or his confusion, and much less, of his dreams. Those who lived in Civis did not dream.

Trying to hide his look of disgust, Vogel remained standing in the atrium, together with the rest of the apprentices, in the place assigned to him for witnessing sacrifices.

The President of the Council had just finished delivering his speech and all those gathered around the helicopter were clapping enthusiastically. He did not understand why the President had to read his speech from a piece of paper when he said exactly the same thing every week, and even Vogel was beginning to learn it by heart. However, he clapped just like the rest of the people gathered there and was not perturbed when the robots pushed the woman who had volunteered as sacrifice into the helicopter.

When the machine finally cleared the great Eye, the customary balloon with its load of provisions for the week came falling down, and, for the first time, Vogel looked on with curiosity. What was in it this time?  Every week the balloon’s load included a small additional package, a gift for the people of Civis, in addition to the usual supply of food. Last week it had been a piece of fruit, something that had really thrilled them. Fruits were not common in Civis, and neither were vegetables because there was no place to grow them, so the people of Civis depended on the generosity of Silva.  Because fruits were so highly valued, they were not included in the Pact: they were not considered to be a basic food element.

However, this time the small packages that the President was beginning to distribute to those that had arrived first at his side, did not appear to be big enough. No, it was something smaller this time.

Without saying a word, Vogel managed to sneak away from the group of apprentices and went to stand in line to receive his package. Standing in line, he ran into Lerdre whose face was all lit up and who, upon seeing him said, Beautiful speech this time, don’t you think?

Without saying a word, Vogel allowed himself to answer her with just a nod of the head, and got in line behind her. Lerdre was his instructor and was one of the most enthusiastic people on sacrifice days, although truth be told, all of the inhabitants of Civis considered sacrifice days to be happy and festive. He was the only one who probably had not reacted normally to the adaptation injection.

Trying to put these thoughts out of his mind, he moved forward with the line until his turn came to pick up his packet. He was in front of the President who was dressed in his ceremonial neoprene garb and the robots who accompanies him. While the President gave him a friendly smile, Vogel stretched out his arm where he wore his bracelet toward the robot that was holding the reader. With a rapid movement, his identification code was read, his presence in the atrium was recorded, and his receipt of the packet was registered.

Everything in Civis was carefully counted, since all goods and work activity were rationed, and anarchy could not be permitted. The bracelets also registered the exact time the city’s inhabitants went to bed and when they woke up, hours of work completed, when they received their daily rations of food, water, and even soap. Everything was controlled in order to preserve the operation of the fragile ecosystem in the caves.

With the packet in his hand, Vogel approached his instructor, Lerdre, who was waiting for him by the elevators. She had already opened her small package and with a happy gesture showed him its contents. Chocolate, thought Vogel, not bad.

They entered the wide elevator together with everyone else who was waiting for it, and went up to the third floor where their living quarters were located. They walked side by side down the hallway while Lerdre proudly declared that she had met the woman sacrifice the yesterday morning.

At the door to his quarters, Vogel said goodbye to her and placed his bracelet where it could be seen by the door sensor in order to open his door.

Should I come for you in half an hour so that we can go to dinner together? asked Lerdre

No, I’m not hungry. I think I’ll just go straight to bed, he answered.

Lerdre looked at him skeptically but did not try to convince him otherwise, so Vogel entered his cave and closed the door behind him.

He was not hungry, it was true, but he did not understand why. He had eaten in the dining room hours ago; still, he felt nauseated. He left the chocolate wrapped in its small package on top of his desk and changed his clothes under the watchful eye of the security camera.

Cameras had been strategically placed throughout the city, including living quarters, in order to protect Civis and its citizens from any disruption or illness. If the cameras observed anything out of the ordinary in any of the caves, all doors would be blocked until the rescue robots arrived. It was for their security.

Vogel lay down and turned out the light, even though there were a couple of hours still left until curfew, and he remained in bed, without moving, trying not to think about the dreams that he was surely going to have.

3 LERDRE

The same dream again. It was not normal. Never in her life had she had dreams like this one. In fact, she had actually never had any dreams at all in her whole life. Dreams were not favorably looked upon in Civis. Dreams indicated too much imagination. No respectable citizen had any dreams of any kind because that affected productivity and communal living. And much less dreams of this kind: she dreamt about a forest. A forest!

If the doctors only knew... Forests had disappeared several generations ago and no description or image of them had been kept. As such, a dream like this could only represent a waste of imagination and signs of rebellion, clear evidence that you were not happy living in civilization. And because of this you would be the first to be thrown out. Any nonconformity that could alter the fragile ecosystem of the planet that had taken so much to achieve could not be permitted.

And yet, the dreams were so real...Lerdre could see the intense colors of the foliage, the dew on the leaves, the crystalline streams...She could hear the characteristic sounds of the animals of the forest and could even smell the scents around her...But this was impossible. Lerdre had never known such a universe. And she would never know one either.

She would wake up drenched in sweat and cursed herself for it. They would realize what was going on with her in the end and she could not allow that. She should be an exemplary citizen. But the dreams had started two weeks ago and she had not been able to free herself of them. Had she gone crazy? This all had coincided with the arrival of her apprentice, Vogel, who was turning out to be a constant worry.

Lerdre had volunteered to be an instructor, in part because she had wanted to experience the new sensations that came with the work, and also in part because it was what was expected of her once she reached that age. She was two years short of 25 and people would start to look at her askance if she did not perform a service like this for the community.

Although Lerdre had had another project in mind for quite some time, she knew what she had to do, even if it caused her to have to ignore the other matter...

But Vogel was turning out to be a difficult apprentice. Or, at least, different. Lerdre knew that there had been cases in the past in which something had gone wrong in the instruction process at the University or even on the day of the injection, but if that had been the case, the Council would have realized it and would not have brought Vogel into the city. There is no way that a non-adapted person would have been able to cross the threshold into Civis.

And yet, Vogel frequently perplexed her. He asked questions that were out of the ordinary as if he did not know the basic fundamentals of civilization (something that was taught during the first years at the University), and instead, he seemed to have had experience in other things that were confusing for the other apprentices.

There was a big difference between Vogel and the rest. Anybody would say he was at least ten years older than the others, bur at times he was so naïve...

And as if Vogel were not enough, there were the dreams. She did not need another problem right now. Lerdre shook her head and jumped to her feet. She had to pull herself together and appear that nothing was wrong. She had to act.

An hour later she met her apprentice in the entertainment room. The rest of the apprentices were already there, along with their instructors, seated at the various tables dispersed throughout the room. Some were murmuring in a hushed voice one lesson or another on the history of civilization; others had already advanced to the manual skills needed to do their future jobs.

But the two of them had not yet started because Vogel arrived late. Lerdre had been impatiently waiting for him until he arrived hurriedly, offering his excuses and claiming that he had not felt very well that morning.

Lerdre had not wanted to make a scene, so they took their place at the last empty table, near the door.

What do you want to start with today? she asked, but Vogel just shrugged his shoulders

Do you want to review the chapter about the Pact? Or you could also try your hand at some profession...

The Pact? he interrupted, I think I’m starting to know it by heart, and the truth is that I don’t want to hear anything more about...

Shhh, Lerdre silenced him, looking around, searching for inquisitive ears that could have heard a treasonous statement like that one, the Pact is what keeps this city alive, remember that, and she continued in a hushed voice, They feed us and we feed them, it’s a perfect ecosystem. Besides, they behave very well towards us, they give us gifts every Sunday, like the chocolate candy from yesterday or last week’s fruit.

The apple, said Vogel without thinking.

The what? What did you say?

Apple...it was an apple, right? Or was it a Pear?

What are you saying?! said Lerdre raising her voice as much as she could without being overheard. Vogel was making up things to drive her crazy; there was no other explanation. But a level of imagination like his could be very dangerous for both of them... There’s no difference between one fruit and another, she blurted out, so don’t mention it again. Now, take any of the tools from the cabinet in back and let‘s return to your abilities.

Lerdre watched him worriedly as he stood and crossed the room, avoiding the rest of the tables in the room. Some of the occupants in the nearer tables watched him curiously, because discussions were not common in Civis. You could actually say they were nonexistent. What was there to discuss? Everyone performed their assigned roles in the city with conformity, since they knew that each link in the chain was important. There was no room for even the possibility of a divergent thought, because that would harm the system.

Lerdre tried to concentrate on a fixed point on the table top to avoid the compassionate looks of the rest of the instructors. By now the news that Vogel was turning out to be a difficult apprentice had made the rounds in the room. All 52 instructors had previously given her their condolences after a prior incident where Vogel had been unable to operate simple electronic device of five frequencies. It appeared that Vogel had absolutely no knowledge of technology, but that was impossible, all of that was taught at an early age at the University, so they attributed it to some interference in the adaptation process and it was necessary to again explain to him the basic procedures of a binary system.

Nevertheless, Vogel appeared to have aptitude for manual work as well as a special sensitivity for the weather. He could foresee when it was going to rain, and even though Lerdre did not believe in this ability at first, she had been able to witness it one afternoon in the atrium when he had seen some type of