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Chapter 7 It
is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head, black against
the last gold of the sky. The moss is soft and warm. We shall sleep on
this moss for many nights, till the beasts of the forest come to tear our
body. We have no bed now, save the moss, and no future, save the beasts.
We
are old now, yet we were young this morning, when we carried our glass box
through the streets of the City to the Home of the Scholars. No men
stopped us, for there were none about the Palace of Corrective Detention,
and the others knew nothing. No men stopped us at the gate. We walked
through the empty passages and into the great hall where the World Council
of Scholars sat in solemn meeting. We
saw nothing as we entered, save the sky in the great windows, blue and
glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long table; they were
as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of a great sky. There were the men
whose famous names we knew, and others from distant lands whose names we
had not heard. We saw a great painting on the wall over their heads, of
the twenty illustrious men who had invented the candle.
All
the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These great and wise
of the earth did not know what to think of us, and they looked upon us
with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a miracle. It is true that our
tunic was torn and stained with brown stains which had been blood. We
raised our right arm and we said: "Our
greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council of
Scholars!" Then
Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council, spoke and asked:
"Who
are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar."
"Our
name is Equality 7-2521," we answered, "and we are a Street
Sweeper of this City." Then
it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the Scholars
spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened.
"A
Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World Council of
Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all the rules and all
the laws!" But
we knew how to stop them. "Our
brothers!" we said. "We matter not, nor our transgression. It is
only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for we are
nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift such as has
never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold the future of mankind
in our hands." Then
they listened. We
placed our glass box on the table before them. We spoke of it, and of our
long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from the Palace of
Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that hall, as we spoke, nor an
eye. Then we put the wires to the box, and they all bent forward and sat
still, watching. And we stood still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly,
slowly as a flush of blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the
wire glowed. But
terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their feet, they ran
from the table, and they stood pressed against the wall, huddled together,
seeking the warmth of one another's bodies to give them courage.
We
looked upon them and we laughed and said:
"Fear
nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these wires, but this
power is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you."
Still
they would not move. "We
give you the power of the sky!" we cried. "We give you the key
to the earth! Take it, and let us be one of you, the humblest among you.
Let us work together, and harness this power, and make it ease the toil of
men. Let us throw away our candles and our torches. Let us flood our
cities with light. Let us bring a new light to men!"
But
they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid. For their eyes were
still, and small, and evil. "Our
brothers!" we cried. "Have you nothing to say to us?"
Then
Collective 0-0009 moved forward. They moved to the table and the others
followed. "Yes,"
spoke Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to you."
The
sound of their voice brought silence to the hall and to the beat of our
heart. "Yes,"
said Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to a wretch who have
broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy! How dared you think
that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? And if
the Council had decreed that you be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think
that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the
streets?" "How
dared you, gutter cleaner," spoke Fraternity 9-3452, "to hold
yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of one and not of many?"
"You
shall be burned at the stake," said Democracy 4-6998.
"No,
they shall be lashed," said Unanimity 7-3304, "till there is
nothing left under the lashes."
"No,"
said Collective 0-0009, "we cannot decide upon this, our brothers. No
such crime has ever been committed, and it is not for us to judge. Nor for
any small Council. We shall deliver this creature to the World Council
itself and let their will be done."
We
looked upon them and we pleaded: "Our
brothers! You are right. Let the will of the Council be done upon our
body. We do not care. But the light? What will you do with the
light?" Collective
0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled.
"So
you think you have found a new power," said Collective 0-0009.
"Do you think all your brothers think that?"
"No,"
we answered. "What
is not thought by all men cannot be true," said Collective 0-0009.
"You
have worked on this alone?" asked International 1-5537.
"Yes,"
we answered. "What
is not done collectively cannot be good," said International 1-5537.
"Many
men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the
past," said Solidarity 8-1164, "but when the majority of their
brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all
men must." "This
box is useless," said Alliance 6-7349.
"Should
it be what they claim of it," said Harmony 9-2642, "then it
would bring ruin to the Department of Candles. The Candle is a great boon
to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore it cannot be destroyed by
the whim of one." "This
would wreck the Plans of the World Council," said Unanimity 2-9913,
"and without the Plans of the World Council the sun cannot rise. It
took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the
Candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to re-fit the Plans so
as to make candles instead of torches. This touched upon thousands and
thousands of men working in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans
again so soon." "And
if this should lighten the toil of men," said Similarity 5-0306,
"then it is a great evil, for men have no cause to exist save in
toiling for other men." Then
Collective 0-0009 rose and pointed at our box.
"This
thing," they said, "must be destroyed."
And
all the others cried as one: "It
must be destroyed!" Then
we leapt to the table. We
seized our box, we shoved them aside, and we ran to the window. We turned
and we looked at them for the last time, and a rage, such as is not fit
for humans to know, choked our voice in our throat.
"You
fools!" we cried. "You fools! You thrice-damned fools!"
We
swung our fist through the windowpane, and we leapt out in a ringing rain
of glass. We
fell, but we never let the box fall from our hands. Then we ran. We ran
blindly, and men and houses streaked past us in a torrent without shape.
And the road seemed not to be flat before us, but as if it were leaping up
to meet us, and we waited for the earth to rise and strike us in the face.
But we ran. We knew not where we were going. We knew only that we must
run, run to the end of the world, to the end of our days.
Then
we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth and that we had
stopped. Trees taller than we had ever seen before stood over us in a
great silence. Then we knew. We were in the Uncharted Forest. We had not
thought of coming here, but our legs had carried our wisdom, and our legs
had brought us to the Uncharted Forest against our will.
Our
glass box lay beside us. We crawled to it, we fell upon it, our face in
our arms, and we lay still. We
lay thus for a long time. Then we rose, we took our box, had walked on
into the forest. It
mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow us, for they
never entered the Uncharted Forest. We had nothing to fear from them. The
forest disposes of its own victims. This gave us no fear either. Only we
wished to be away from the City and the air that touches upon the air of
the City. So we walked on, our box in our arms, our heart empty. We
are doomed. Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them alone. And
we have heard of the corruption to be found in solitude. We have torn
ourselves from the truth which is our brother men, and there is no road
back for us, and no redemption. We
know these things, but we do not care. We care for nothing on earth. We
are tired. Only
the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives us strength.
We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this box for the good of our
brothers. We built it for its own sake. It is above all our brothers to
us, and its truth above their truth. Why wonder about this? We have not
many days to live. We are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among
the great, silent trees. There is not a thing behind us to regret. Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only. We thought of the Golden One. We thought of the Golden One whom we shall never see again. Then the pain passed. It is best. We are one of the Damned. It is best if the Golden One forget our name and the body which bore that name. |
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