“Very well,” said U2258 in his slow way.
“When shall we start?”
“Today,” said his boss. “At 4pm.”
Feeds. U2258 thought about that idea. Mulled
it over in his brain. Wondered what it would do to someone to be
receiving multiple inputs of information simultaneously. What would
that do to society? U2258 wondered, but he did not have any
conclusions.
“We’re all ready,” came the voice of a husky
man wearing the company logo on his chest and a frown. “He is
prepped and ready to go. The new chip has been inserted, and it is
time for you to do your magic.”
After a pause, U2258 said, “Yes. I am
coming.” He walked through the door following the man and saw the
patient, a pale faced man, reclining in a chair with wires
attaching to the side of his head, where the chip sat. He stared at
the opposing wall, with his boss near the door, and a small man
with a stern face and shiny eyes sat opposite the patient. The
patient actually had a smile on his face. He seemed excited to be
there. U2258 did not need anyone to tell him what to do. He knew
his job, knew it well. He sat in the nearest seat and tapped into a
desk console.
“The generic interface is already set up,”
said U2258. “Let me just adjust things so the patient’s particular
biometrics are taken into account. This should not take long.” The
stern faced man nodded and U2258 typed in some commands and looked
carefully at a set of statistics and graphs that few at the company
would understand. Within a few minutes, he went to the man’s
interface program, and made some adjustments. He double checked his
work, and finally sent the signal.
The patient’s head jerked once, and he said,
“Wow. That’s a lot of information. I think it’s weather data. A
little hard to get the particulars though.”
U2258 looked back over the patient’s current
biometrics with the addition of the feed, and made a few more
adjustments, hoping to sharpen signal-brain communications. He sent
the new program update and suddenly the man smiled. “That’s much
better. There is a whole world of information out there. Weather,
news, and is this a source for learning?”
“Yes,” said the shiny eyed man. “It is our
newest venture. We thought it would be helpful for those wanting
more training for their job or to get better employment.”
“Amazing,” said the patient. “Wonderful.”
U2258 searched through the input and parsed
out the signals. He saw four of them represented on the screen. But
this man had so far only mentioned three. The man with the shiny
eyes and stern expression stood up and looked over U2258’s
shoulder. “Very well,” he said. “You have done your job admirably.
You may go to your office until we have more need of you. I am sure
you have a lot of work to do.”
A pause. “Yes sir,” U2258 said in his slow
way.
Later that day his boss came by his office.
“That was very good work you did back there,” he said. “We didn’t
want to risk using someone else. You tend to be much more accurate
and quick to find what needs to be done.”
“Thank you, sir.” Pause. “I saw something in
those feeds. I noticed that three were noted by the patient.
However, according to the screen, four feeds were streaming.”
“Yes, I noticed that too,” said his boss. “It
seems he is still a bit slow at taking up that last feed.”
Pause. “Sir, if there are more adjustments
needed, I will certainly go back in there and make them.”
“I don’t see why not,” said his boss. “Let me
just call over there and see when we can get you in.” He picked up
a transmitter and put it to his ear. “I hear soon with the feeds,
we won’t even need to carry one of these anymore. It’ll all be in
the chip.” He waited for a moment. “Sir,” he said, “U2258 noticed
there was one feed not received correctly by the patient and he
wondered when he might go in to make adjustments for it.” Silence.
“Really? Well, if you are certain. Yes, sir. I’ll tell him. Thank
you.”
He hung up the phone and his brow wrinkled as
if trying to puzzle something out. “U2258? It seems they don’t want
you back in. They said all went as it should and the patient is
receiving all the proper feeds.”
Pause. “He was not when I was in there,” said
U2258, “and it seems unlikely that it could have changed by
itself.”
“All I know is what I was told. He said to
thank you for your good work, but that was all they would need of
you for now.”
That night, H662 thought about his job. He
lay next to his sleeping wife and he wondered. What about that new
employee? He didn’t like having people fired, but this new guy
seemed to deserve it more than most. How could he come late to
work? It was his moral and social responsibility to better society
with his hard work.
U1472, lay still. He could hear her
breathing, slow and steady. She was a good woman. He wished he
could have had more time with her, but the work of society demanded
his all. They had married according to obligation, but after the
fact, H662 actually felt he liked her. He liked the way she
laughed, and at times she could even be warm. If things were
different he could probably be a better husband and father and he
would feel more warmth from her. If only things were different.
His mind wandered to work again. His foreman
had been under a lot of stress lately. He wondered why. Was his
health okay? Should he take a vacation day? He knew such things
were frowned upon, but sometimes a person needed to do it in order
to keep functioning.
He had known his foreman for many years and
had always been treated well by him, as long as he produced the
correct quota per week. That was what made society work. That each
person carried their load to make things that much better for
everyone else. And that meant improving technology.
His company was the number one pod producer
in the city, and that was why he chose it. There were more
opportunities for advancement and innovation. When H662 had started
he was a mechanic. He repaired pods that had been decommissioned
due to breakdown. He had done well, and over time he moved up
through the ranks. Now, not only did he get to analyze the end
product and do complex quality assurance tests, but he was the
highest ranking employee in his department.
He thought about all the pods that were on
the road, helping people get to where they needed to go because he
had been involved and had worked hard at his job. That was the real
meaning to go after. Not a wife and child. Those were side duties,
but his work was the one great duty to mankind. Even his wife would
have told him that.
In all this, she did not stir beside him, as
no doubt she dreamed of the work she would accomplish the next
day.
The sun was just coming up when Chavez
reached the outskirts of the city. Here, old houses littered the
area, mostly abandoned due to people moving toward the center of
activity. Toward where they believed all the action was. Something
Chavez had given up on believing. He was tired of the lies people
told themselves. Lies about technology and how it was going to save
them. He had never seen evidence of that. Technology could
distract, it could inform, but it saved no one.
The shape of a woman stirred over to his
right. With the sun behind her house, it was hard to see, but he
could smell smoke and he knew she must have built a fire. As he
drew near, she looked up at him and smiled, not something people
ordinarily did where he was from.
“Hi, stranger,” she said, leaning over a
small cooking fire in her yard.
“Hello,” said Chavez. “Do you live here?”
“Yes,” she said. “As best I can. Can I
interest you in some stew?”
“Stew?” asked Chavez. “You don’t use the
carbpacks from the city?”
“Not here,” she said. “I only make food from
scratch. The way it was meant to be.”
“I’ll admit it sounds better than the old
packs any day.” He sat down on a chair that had conveniently been
left there for him. “How do you live out here?”
“Mostly by hunting and with a little garden I
have on the other side of the house,” she said. “Also, my husband
works for extra supplies, but we are considering making a
change.”
“Change?”
“We used to live in the middle of the city,
but it was too fast for us, so we moved out here. We enjoy this
better, but we wonder sometimes if it wouldn’t be better to just go
all the way and head out to the settlements of the Outcasts.”
“But why do such a thing?” asked Chavez. “You
would be abandoning all of society.”
“Like you?” She pointed to his pack. “Anyway,
I think we have done that already. Only my husband works now, but
it gives him little pleasure.”
“Pleasure?” asked Chavez. “But that isn’t why
people work, is it?”
“Is it so bad to enjoy the work you do?”
“I guess I had never thought of it before,”
he said.
“Anyway,” she said, “we have not decided to
go that far yet. We might stay here after all.”
“Where are the Outcasts?”
“Just beyond our borders. If you keep going
the way you were, you will eventually run into them. I have met a
few over the years. They have passed through here and I have found
them friendly enough.”
“I want to get away, I really do. That is why
I travel now, but I had not thought to go as far as the
Outcasts.”
A man walked out of the front door of the
house. He was tall and thin. His face was worn with years of hard
working. Chavez stood and the man took his seat by the fire.
“How do you do?” said the man.
“Well.”
“Are you one of those Outcasts?”
“No,” said Chavez. “Just passing
through.”
“Well, you are welcome to eat with us, but as
for me, I must eat and leave soon.”
“I understand,” said Chavez. “Thank you.”
“And when I leave,” said the husband, “I
would like you to walk with me.”
“Yes. I can do that.”
A few minutes later, they had finished their
stew and the husband stood up to go. Chavez did the same. “Thank
you dear,” said the husband. “I’ll see you tonight.” He bent down
and gave her a kiss, and Chavez diverted his eyes.
“Sorry,” said the husband. “Something we
picked up from some of the Outcasts. They tend to be more free with
their affections out there.”
The husband began heading into the city and
Chavez followed him. “I have to go to work because I’m used to
it.”
“Okay,” said Chavez, not quite sure what else
to say.
“But it would not be my first choice. If I
was a younger man, I would join the Outcasts.”
“Why don’t you?” asked Chavez.
“Because, as I’ve said. This is what I’m used
to. There’s something to be said for doing what you’re used
to.”
“Is there?”
“Certainly,” said the man, walking with long
lumbering steps. “It means you don’t have to worry about how you’re
going to get your next meal. It means you know what the next day
will be about. It means safety.”
“Ah, I see,” said Chavez.
“But if I were a younger man, I would join
the Outcasts.” The man smiled at Chavez.
“I think I get your meaning, sir.”
“I think you’ll do well out there. Friendly
people, the Outcasts. Always helpful. Kind to strangers.”
“Well you have been kind to me.”
“We’re learning,” said the man. “Those
Outcasts may take getting used to, but they’re friendly.”
“Well, thank you, sir, for the advice,” said
Chavez.
“Did I give you advice?”
“Thank you sir. If you don’t mind, I think
I’ll be going the opposite direction. I have a long ways to
go.”
“You certainly do.”
H662 had been working for three hours before
the new man, G1193, came in again, narrow shoulders hunched over.
This time as he approached, H662 saw the shine of tears in his
eyes, which he quickly dried as he entered. He looked tired. Really
tired. Why didn’t he sleep? Didn’t he know it was important to be
well rested for the company?
He looked up from his work. “What’s
wrong?”
“Didn’t sleep,” he said.
“It is important to sleep,” said H662.
“Yes, I know.”
“Try going to bed earlier,” said H662.
“I don’t have a bed.”
“Then where do you sleep?”
“As you can see, I don’t do much of that,”
said the man. He looked beyond caring.
“Didn’t the government give you and your wife
a house?”
“She threw me out,” he said.
“Oh, that is too bad.”
She found another man.”
“I’m sorry to hear.”
“Are you?” asked the man. “Are you really?
Because you don’t seem so broken up about it.” His face began to
turn deep shades of red. “No one seems too cut up about it. None of
us are supposed to care about family. Isn’t that right?”
“We have to care for our families,” said
H662. “It is our job.”
“But do you care
about
them?”
H662 was confused. What was the
difference?
“G1193?” yelled the foreman from his office.
“I need to see you
right now
!” The foreman sounded mad. H662
almost felt sorry for the new guy.
G1193, with his head down and shoulders
slumped, shuffled off to the foreman’s office. Once inside, the
door slammed shut. There was some yelling, and once or twice a
thump that sounded like a fist on a desk. A couple of minutes later
the door opened again. “H662?” yelled his foreman, “can you come in
here?” He put down the cable he was just disconnecting, and walked
toward the office.
Once inside, “You see H662?” said the
foreman. G1193 had his head down and sat in a chair opposite the
standing foreman, but his eyes looked beyond the room. Behind the
desk where the foreman stood sat a placard with his name, a
computer console built in, and a photo of his son. “H662 is
hardworking, on time, in fact early, every day, and does his work
without fail. He is contributing to society. He is a part of the
solution. But you!” He pointed a thick, blunt finger. “You are part
of the problem.”