Radioactive (5 page)

Before eating, the rebels would have a toast or say a word. But the Legion commanders do not observe this ritual. As soon as their food is placed before them, they begin eating without speaking to each other. Irritated, I carefully cut a piece of the chicken with my knife and fork and place it in my mouth. Although it does not smell like chicken, it tastes like chicken, though is tougher than I am used to. It feels like rubber in my mouth. Even when I swallow I feel as though a thin film remains on my tongue.

The potatoes and carrots are the same. Everything somehow tastes artificial. I cannot restrain myself any long and turn to A350.

“Where does the food come from?” I ask softly. She chews mechanically and swallows before turning to me.

“The food production lab.”

“Are there real chickens?”

She thinks for a moment about the question before answering. “It’s not the kind of chickens you know from the educational lessons. These are specially genetically modified and developed for their meat producing properties.”

“What about the potatoes and carrots?”

“Similarly, we modified their genes so they can grow without light, so they are protected from the radioactive contamination.”

I will refrain from telling her you can taste the genetic manipulation. Instead, I ask her another question.

“Why are D-Class women up here? I thought this area was reserved for Legion commanders.”

“They cook for us. Likewise, there is a D-Class person who cleans for us, as well as a private B-Class doctor.” She says it as though it’s a simple matter, but that’s not it.

“Do you have no fear that they could tell the others about it? About what they see here?”

A350 casually dismisses it. “That cannot happen. Once they ride on the elevator to come to this area, they can never leave. They live with us.”

“Do they eat the same food we do?”

Before A350 could answer, she is interrupted by someone on the other side of the table. It is a fourth generation Legion commander. He slams his hands angrily on the table and looks at me angrily.

“Enough! She’s only been here a few hours and she’s already causing problems!” He laments reproachfully.

“She’s interested in learning more,” A350 immediately says in my defense.

“She is sticking her nose into things that do not concern her,” the main replies, unyielding.

“She is trying to understand what we do here,” A350 continues. It bothers me that they are talking about me as though I am not there.

“She should not be questioning our ways. We are the Legion commanders, what we say is law.”

That’s enough. I stand up. “My name is A518, what’s yours?” I say to the man on the other side of the table. He is taken aback. Apparently he thought I wouldn’t dare speak out.

“My name is A489, who gave you permission to speak?”

“I do not need permission, I am a Legion commander,” I reply.

A489 laughs, his mouth sneering. “Oh, look at that. And why do you think you’re here?”

“I am here to ensure the safety of the people in the safety zone.”

“Exactly, and that includes not questioning everything we have achieved. Without the Legion there would likely not be a human on Earth. There is no reason to criticize us.”

Obviously, he feels attacked. Whether he really feels he’s being attacked or lacks self-confidence, I do not know. “I am not criticizing anyone. I’m just being honest. We’re eating food that’s different from what the rest of the safety zone is eating. Would we be able to provide the people in the safety zone with the same food?”

Horrified, some cover their mouths with their hands. Others seem to think about my words.

“We can set up a dining room where everyone takes in food together. The current food allocation department teams can learn to cook.”

A489 just shakes his head. “The people would be totally overwhelmed. They would get scared. They fear change.”

“They only fear change because they do not know change. But as you said yourself today, it’s time for change. You cannot keep the people pacified forever.” I try not to sound reproachful, but to represent my stance as pure and as honestly as possible.

“So you see the safety zone as a prison? So, now, when you get the opportunity, you decide to tell us we should destroy everything we have built over many decades?”

Quickly I shake my head and try to explain. “The Legion has made many great achievements. I would never try to destroy it. I want to improve the lives of the people in the safety zone. Not overnight, but in small steps. The introduction of normal food would be a start.”

There is no answer. Only embarrassed silence. A350 clears her throat beside me. “I think we should keep A518’s proposal in mind and discuss it at the next meeting. Do we all agree?”

Nobody replies. The mood has turned cold. However, trouble lingers in the air like a threatening storm cloud.

“You should go to sleep now. It’s been an exciting day. I’ll see you tomorrow,” A350 says to me. Indirectly, she’s telling me I should leave. I obey her and leave the room. I’m not sure if I will ever know what motivated her to help me.

As I enter the conference room the next morning, I find it empty. Only one plate is still covered. Obviously the others have already eaten. On the plate is a kind of bread. Next to it is a glass of juice. Both are completely odorless. I am not hungry, but I force myself to eat.

As I sit at the large table all alone, I let my gaze wander through the window wall to the outside. The sun bathes the room in a golden light, while the sky glows slightly rose-colored. I close my eyes and imagine the smell of dew in the forest and the light wind which would pass through my short hair. There is always something magical about the morning. The world is calm, as if the world is just now opening its eyes.

A loud clatter interrupts my memories. Scared, I go to the kitchen to investigate. Inside one of the servants is kneeling, gingerly picking up shards of glass. He head is lowered, so I cannot tell her age. When she has collected all the shards, she remains motionless on the ground, as though she were afraid to meet my gaze.

Suddenly, there is a deathly silence in the room. We both seem to be holding our breath. But then I see blood dripping from her hands to the ground. I see her pressing a shard into her palm. Alarmed, I jump up and rush to her as she crouches, motionless, on the floor.

I gently put my hands around her and gently release her cramped fingers so that the red shards fall to the ground.

“What have you done? Are you feeling alright?” I ask her worriedly. She just shakes her head silently without looking up.

“What’s your name?”

“D560,” she says quietly. Her voice trembles. Obviously she’s afraid.

She’s from my generation. How terrible it must be for them to see the luxuries the Legion commanders enjoy every day without being able to be a part of it.

“I’m A518. Can I help you?”

At last she dares to look me in the eyes. Tears conceal her eyes. The sight touches me immediately as I have never seen tears in the safety zone. Not even with Zoe. Before I could ask any more questions, she becomes frightened again.

“What’s going on here?” A stern voice asks. When I turn around, it’s A350.

“D560 cut herself. She needs a doctor,” I tell her the situation quickly.

“She cut herself?” A350 repeated my words in disbelief, as though it was something completely unimaginable.

“Yes, it was not intentional,” I assure her and conceal the fact that D560 deliberately pressed the pieces into her own hands.

A350 draws her disapproving eyebrows together, but presses a button behind her right ear and speaks to someone. The doctor is on his way to the conference room.

“There. Someone will take care of her. Follow me.”

“Should we not wait for the doctor with her?”

“We haven’t got all day.”

Her answer is short and does not tolerate contradiction. With a last worried glance at D560, I leave the conference room and follow A350 through the glass transitions of the Legion ball.

We walk into a room which is equipped with a giant computer. There are flashing lights, control buttons, and various levers. The most impressive thing is that it is at least ten feet long. It is impossible for me to see the entire device at once. Above the control board there are several screens that show camera footage of the safety zone.

“This is the heart of the Legion,” A350 announces proudly. A smile forms on her lips. “From here we manage everything and are able to monitor everyone.”

As if to prove it, she presses a button in front of her and one of the screens switches to show a resident of the safety zone. In the right corner of the screen their name is displayed: B287. The woman is just outside the window of the food allocation department.

“That’s incredible,” I confess to A350.

She nods satisfied, and continues. “However, this is the one room that is not monitored. So I will tell you about the control board, but also answer your questions, as promised.”

“The outcasts are a failed experiment. There was an error.”

“What kind of experiment?”

A350 shakes her head with a hint of a frown. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

I did not think she would come back to that topic on her own. Now I am eager for the rest of the story. “You wanted to tell me about the experiment?”

A350 lets her gaze on the monitors slide. “There was a time when we could use this computer to look into the outcast’s caves.” Lost in thought, she runs her fingers over a radio dial. “We were even able to communicate with them.”

Confused, I frown. Why would the rebels have done that?

A350 notices my suspicions and shrugs. “That was long before your time. The outcasts, or rebels, as you probably know them, were not always as they are today. On the contrary, they were part of the Legion.”

“Until they fled...” I add gently, but A350 shakes her head.

“The outcasts may have told you that, but in fact, there was never an escape.” She is silent for a moment before she continues. “About thirty years ago, the Legion created the electric wall. It borders a large area from the outside world and forms a dome over the entire area. At this time, a life outside the safety zone was unimaginable, but within the dome, the Legion began to filter air. They took both ground and water samples. When the values were stable, they started to reintroduce plants and animals into the area. This lasted ten years and has always been a secret of the Legion commanders. Nobody wanted to give the people an early hope for life outside of the safety zone.”

“What about the air and ground outside of the dome? Are they still radioactive?”

A350 shrugs her shoulders. “We do not know.”

I cannot believe her. There is no way the Legion doesn’t know. “Why did you never check it out?”

“Because there was no reason to continue thinking of resettling the people. Even the dome was a mistake.”

I have a feeling that she is being honest to me at this point and is not trying to hide something. “Why?” I want to know.

“We’ll get there soon enough,” she explained patiently. “After the plants and animals successfully integrated into their new environment, five Legion commanders volunteered to live in the open country. Two of them you may know, A175 and A176,”

Now I see the two loving faces of Marie and Gustav before my eyes. I can feel her wrinkled, but warm, hands on my cheeks. From the beginning they treated me warmly and understood me more than anyone else. Especially Marie, she radiated an inner warmth, when you were near her you had no choice but to feel secure. But I say nothing of this to A350 and simply nod my head.

“They organized together with three others to leave the Legion and set up a camp in the caves. But they took scraps of the old Earth with them, items we had stored as antiques. Not just mattresses, clothes, or furniture, they even took old cars with gasoline engines to the caves. They wanted to make their new home as similar to the old Earth as possible, though at that time, hardly anyone alive had any memories of World War III.”

I had never thought about where the rebels obtained their materials. I bet some of them gave it no thought as well. What would Finn say if he knew the mattress he slept on every night was actually owned by the Legion?

“After they had everything set up, they chose people of different age groups from the safety zone to accompany them in the experiment. In the beginning, people were unable to cope with the situation, but they took to their new tasks quickly. Mainly they dealt with fieldwork. While the Legion commander in charge of the experiment initially kept daily contact with the Legion, their reports became less and less frequent over time. They began to live their lives outside of the Legion and forgot about their real goal. At each meeting, they called for more people, so the Legion agreed to send them the objectors and troublemakers, the real outcasts. That was a fatal mistake.”

So that’s why there’s so many. Some of the rebels are descended from the real outcasts of the Legion. A350 shakes her head and looks at the monitors of the desert landscape.

“Finally, a fight broke out in the caves because the people were at odds over their goals. Some of them wanted to continue to work with the Legion in order to create a future for all of the people of the safety zone, but others wanted to completely break away from the Legion. The Legion asked several times for a meeting, but only one of the soon-to-be rebels accepted the offer. When he talked about the situation in the caves, the Legion commanders were shocked. It was far worse than they thought. Therefore, they were forced to intervene.”

I know the answer, but I have to ask, “How did they intervene?”

“The last Legion commander in the experiment made a deal. He wanted freedom for himself and his dependents, a life without the Legion. He did not care what happened to the rest. So they agreed on a day for an attack. On this day, the Legion commander and his family and dependents left the caves. When they returned, the others were gone.”

The Legion commanders betrayed the other rebels in order to protect himself. Without asking, I know this must be Gustav.