Zero and Other Fictions (14 page)

As the professor finished speaking, the living room fell silent. For a long time, neither of them said a thing. Finally, the professor broke the silence.

“Xi De, let's eat.”

After eating, Xi De said good-bye to the professor and returned to the Bureau of Resource Analysis dorm, his mind an utter blank. The professor had not given him any clear instructions, but he had given him the name of one person, a former student of his. Perhaps he would be able to tell Xi De something about that revolutionary organization that had appeared so fleetingly.

Xi De lay down on his bed and took a slip of paper from his pocket on which was written: “Du Qun, Electricity Allocator, Administrative Department, Third Industrial City.”

12

Lin Xing drained the last drop of green wine and waited to feel its heat rise in his stomach. What a comfortable feeling! His belly felt warm, as if there were a warm hand massaging his innards, massaging his guts, toying with his brain, and finally making him issue an uncontrollable sigh of happiness, satisfaction, and lasciviousness.

Forcing himself to open his blurry eyes, Lin Xing saw Xi De seated in the corner. At this late hour, the bar was nearly empty.

“Oh, brother,” he said, knocking over several chairs before falling across the table at which Xi De sat.

“How could you get so drunk?” asked Xi De, his brow furrowed.

A short while later, in Lin Xing's apartment, Xi De helped him to bed.

The room was a mess—things were scattered all over, and the walls were covered in many colors of paint; seeing a shaggy-haired android beauty lying in the bathtub momentarily startled Xi De.

In the bathroom, Xi De found a sponge and a bottle of peppermint spirits. He soaked the sponge and placed it on Lin Xing's forehead; when the scent of peppermint entered his nose, he sneezed.

“Oh!” Lin Xing moaned. “Thanks, Xi De.”

“You just have a good rest,” he said. “I'm going home now.”

“Hang on, Xi De, don't you want to know why I drink this way?”

“I don't care. I don't want to interfere in other people's private lives.”

“Stupid liquor!” Lin Xing slapped his head with force and propped himself up. “Have a seat, Xi De. I've been transferred.”

“Transferred?”

“Damn, and I received a performance award last year, you know. My performance was a little off this year, so they transfer me.”

“Who do you mean by ‘they'?”

“Those guys in HR, who else?”

“Why are they doing it to you?”

“They have their doubts about my loyalty. Damn it.” Lin Xing continued angrily, “Who doesn't complain at the bureau? It's always the same every day. We 're not robots.”

“A transfer will be good—a change of scenery.”

“What do you know, Xi De? You ought to go and see the outside world.”

“The outside world?”

“Just out of school, I was the same as you,” he said, his anger fading and his voice taking on a normal tone once again. “I believed that there was nothing better than having everything arranged for you—work, life, the future. Everything was planned; all you had to do was step lightly and be happy. The outside world doesn't exist. The only thing that matters to you is the Bureau of Resource Analysis.”

“Huh.”
What's so bad about that?
thought Xi De.

Since returning from the professor's, Xi De had been pondering many things related to the new society. Lin Xing was wrong in thinking that he didn't understand anything about the outside world. From Winston's writing and the professor, he actually knew more than most people. At best, Lin Xing was only a dilettante. He was just a little more sensitive to job fatigue than most. Job fatigue was unavoidable, like a machine wearing out. But the new society had a readjustment scheme for just such a problem. In a month, he'd receive two weeks of vacation and be sent to a rest area. But aside from those who worked in the Bureau of Character Readjustment in the Ministry of Education, no one knew the exact whereabouts of the rest area. From his colleagues who had been on such vacations, Xi De had learned that it was a totally unexpected and stimulating itinerary—there was even the possibility of taking a cruise to the moon on a spaceship. The term “readjustment” was spot-on. Readjustment for high-ranking administrators also implied a reward of sorts. So what was the reason for Lin Xing's conclusion that “The outside world doesn't exist. The only thing that matters to you is the Bureau of Resource Analysis”?

“I tell you, I'm being transferred to an agricultural city, where I'll have to live with those dumb farmers.”

“Farmers are not necessarily dumb,” said Xi De. “My parents are farmers.”

“Sorry,” said Lin Xing.

“I think I ought to be going,” said Xi De. “Have a good night's sleep.”

As Xi De neared the door, Lin Xing again called for him to stop.

“I forgot to tell you why I drink so every day.”

Xi De looked back at Lin Xing sitting on his bed.

“Not long ago, one of my classmates worked in the data office of the Bureau of Resource Protection. One day he had an accident and broke a leg and was hospitalized. Initially, there was someone to cover for him, but unfortunately he had to go away on business. It just so happened I had to visit his office on business. It was then that I discovered something disturbing: there was no one in the office, but the work was being dealt with better than usual because there was a computer there. It had been sent by the administrative office and was doing his job. That's one reason for my heavy drinking …”

Xi De stopped listening, closed the door behind him, and returned to his own room.

13

A few days later, Lin Xing left and his replacement arrived, transferred from the First Industrial City. His name was Ge Shu, and he was an Asian-European mix, a graduate of the Secondary Academy. He had been given the job due to outstanding performance. It was said that he had won the award for being the most effective employee in his work unit five years running. In the Ministry of Resources, there was a group of several of this sort who rose, skirting regular channels. Through either a sense of inferiority or jealousy, they formed a small clique and drank and had fun together. It was said that they even swapped their android companions.

Ge Shu's office was next to Xi De's. He was tall and thin and had hairy hands. He was overly formal with others and spoke flatteringly. His two young female assistants liked to spread gossip about him. They called him a hick behind his back and said that he made a huge fuss about the features in the apartment he had been assigned.

In the Bureau of Resource Analysis dining hall, Ge Shu always nodded to Xi De. One time, Ge Shu even pulled up a chair for him. This sort of toadying behavior made his co-workers look at him with surprise.

“What is this? It smells so delicious,” said Ge Shu, heaving a sigh.

This made the young ladies at the next table titter.

“It's called Kada—it's a food from outer space. It contains the purest form of protein,” explained Xi De.

“Oh!” exclaimed Ge Shu. “We don't have this where I come from.”

The laugher grew louder this time. Ge Shu's face flushed red.

“Don't pay any attention to them,” said Xi De. “They're mean to strangers.”

After work, Xi De took him to visit the various offices of the Bureau of Resource Analysis, the commissary, the bar, the gym, and the movie theater. They also played a game of billiards in the pool hall, where Xi De discovered that Ge Shu's skills were exceptional. Ge Shu explained that in his previous work unit, the most popular form of entertainment was billiards. Then Xi De asked about the industrial city; Ge Shu was pleased to answer all his questions—he viewed Xi De as his protector— and assured Xi De that if he visited the industrial city on official business, his friends would see to it that he enjoyed himself to the fullest.

From then on, Ge Shu was a frequent visitor to Xi De's office. Sometimes he would ask some technical questions; other times he'd just chat, that is, until that group of “climbers” discovered him. Only then did they drift apart.

This was the start of Xi De's unintentional contact with the outside world. The appearance of Ge Shu gave him a more concrete idea of that world.

A week later, Xi De was called to the director's office of the Bureau of Resource Analysis.

The director's office was luxuriously appointed. Scenic photos changed constantly on the wall screens. Xi De stood in the reception room enjoying the picture of a waterfall.

“Xi De.” One of the doors of the reception room opened automatically, and the director's chair slid forward on specially built tracks. “That's Niagara Falls.”

“It's a beautiful place.”

“But that's not where you're going on your vacation.” The director was a ruddy-complexioned, middle-aged man, and obviously a graduate of the Central Academy on account of the shiny lapel pin he wore. “The orders for your vacation have come down—our official computers just received the orders from the Ministry of Education. Here, take it—it's your vacation orders.”

Xi De opened his orders.

Situmare City, Brazil. Three days hence, 8:30, Central Airport.

Xi De gave the director an inquiring look.

“I've been there once before—it's better than Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is a lower-level resort area. Xi De, this is your first vacation!”

Xi De nodded.

“Don't think about anything. Just go and have a good time for two weeks,” said the director, laughing mysteriously. “Your performance has been good, and your friendly attitude toward Ge Shu is to be praised.”

He seemed to know everything.

Xi De watched as the director disappeared behind the wall, then left the reception room.

14

The flying machine sped toward the northern horizon. More than a dozen passengers were seated in the cylindrical cabin, including two officials from the Ministry of Coordination, a systems analyst from the Ministry of Industry, and a rather stern-looking individual dressed in the khaki uniform of a Ministry of Education employee. They all got off midway through the journey. The remaining eight passengers—six men and two women—were from various regional committee offices. All wore Central Academy lapel pins. For this reason, they immediately formed small groups upon boarding and struck up conversations.

Xi De sat next to a tall, gaunt man of about thirty years of age with brown hair and dark eyes, who wore lightweight gray traveling clothes. He was a programmer from the Ministry of Technological Development, and was at that very moment excitedly describing his first adventure in outer space travel to his two listeners.

“In a state of weightlessness, you will have a strange and mysterious, transcendental experience. You might suddenly recall something forgotten since childhood. As you float in the air, you will have the sensation of sinking into cotton batting a hundred meters thick. You sink and sink and sink, until you no longer feel the need to worry about hitting something or breaking a leg. Thus, when you regain your cool, you relax your four limbs, then you close your eyes and sense the emptiness around you; your brain is the same. After a while, a strange scene will come to mind. It was then that I saw myself when I was a year old.…”

His listeners had increased. They sat in swivel seats that could turn a hundred and eighty degrees, allowing them to turn and face the space traveler.

“How did you get up there?” asked an attractive woman, who was around thirty.

“I went to the space station on official business for three weeks,” replied the programmer proudly.

“Wow!” responded the woman, ogling him.

“Tell us what the space station was like,” said another listener enthusiastically.

Xi De got up from his seat and walked over to the cockpit. He figured the guy was bragging and had probably done nothing more than visit a space module.

The pilot was a young black man. He turned and looked at Xi De and smiled. Xi De walked up behind him and looked out at the sky through the window.

The flying machine entered a cloudbank. The clouds parted as rapidly as fog.

“Situmare is beneath the clouds,” said the pilot.

When the flying machine arrived on the runway at the Situmare Airport, a red tour bus designated as belonging to the Ministry of Education was already waiting.

Xi De and his fellow passengers all boarded the bus one by one. A ministry official shook hands with each of them, then in a loud voice announced:

“Welcome to Situmare, everyone!” His eyes swept over the anxiously expectant faces. “I'll be your host in the Situmare Recreation Zone. You can call me Callahan, and I'll be in charge of our trip from the airport to the recreation zone.”

The bus sped over a spotless road. Glancing out the window, Callahan continued, “However, we are not allowed to stop or get off the bus in the downtown area. It's still a little way to the recreation zone.”

No one asked anything; everyone understood the situation. One occasionally encountered the red buses from the Ministry of Education on the streets of Central City. The buses all had smoky glass windows and you couldn't see who was riding inside; nor was anyone ever seen getting off such buses.

After leaving the city, the bus entered a mountainous area. It stopped at a checkpoint between two steep cliffs. Two armed guards boarded the bus. One of them carried a small transmitter for checking the face of each passenger; the other one asked them each to hold out their hands so that he could check the ID numbers on the backs of their hands.