The cave was the last place Kold expected to see a preacher. There were plenty of preachers protesting at the entrance to the cave. And there were even more lining the roads that brought him and his sister there. More than once they had to ditch the road entirely, just to arrive safely. But they were in the cave’s second-lowest room, and the only way to get this deep was to wait in line like everyone else. And they had been in line for almost a year! He thought he’d left the preachers behind.
“Ammalee is coming again!” yelled the preacher. His voice ran into the speakers of their suits through a hijacked frequency. “It’s not too late to turn back! The sky will rain fire down to burn your skin, in judgement. In the name of Ammalee, repent!”
A nicer suit could have blocked his frequency, but they couldn’t afford anything like that. Based on the reaction of everyone else in line, none of them could either. Everyone was annoyed! Everyone except for Kold’s sister, Dejah. She couldn’t stop watching him.
“Do not give in! Do not traverse the belly of the snake!” yelled the preacher. “They will steal your children—thus says the Word of Ammalee!”
Kold paired his suit to Dejah’s comm, and spoke loud enough to be heard over the preaching. “Ignore him. Just ignore him,” he said. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
She turned and looked up at him.
“I know. Ammalee wouldn’t hurt a child. I know that.” She said it as calmly and unassuming as anyone could. She said it like a true believer. It was embarrassing.
She went back to watching the preacher. “You can’t reach Ammalee by going backwards, for she is not bound by time. Do not desecrate yourself by embracing the heresy of the void! Repent and trust the way of Ammalee!”
“Why you listening to him anyway?” asked Kold, “He’s a fool. ”
“I know!” said Dejah. “But I like listening to him.”
The preacher started to speak in the tongue of the ancestors. If there was anything worse than hearing someone preach, it was hearing someone preach in a language they butchered.
“What’s he saying?” Dejah asked.
“He’s not saying anything. He’s trying to quote Ammalee, but he’s got the inflection all wrong. Even you could do better than him, if you had the text in front of you.”
Kold turned to watch him struggle with the translation. He could see the pack on the left shoulder of his suit, where his voice was broadcast. Kold imagined what it would be like to leave the line, run over to him, knock him to the ground, and … well, he wouldn’t hurt him. But he’d knock that antenna off his shoulder! Then everyone could enjoy the peace and quiet of waiting in line. But he knew better than to do that; a few devos were close by, only visible from the blur they cast against the walls of the cave. If he stepped out of line, they’d never let him back in.
Dejah tugged on his arm.
“Do you miss dad?” she asked.
“Of course, I miss dad.”
“Do you miss his preaching?”
Kold paused. He looked down at her, as she looked back up through her tinted helmet, the lights of her computer system lighting her face in the otherwise pitch black cave.
“I miss a lot of things about dad,” said Kold.
He wasn’t lying. He missed a lot of things about dad. But he didn’t miss the preaching. Or sitting on the corner of the street watching him pray, which he was far more likely to do. He certainly didn’t miss watching him get harassed, beaten or tossed out of places because of his prayers. Which is exactly what he would do to this preacher, if it weren’t for the line.
***
Kold hadn’t expected the void to look like this. He anticipated something bright. Maybe it would spin, twisting reality into a swirl of colors. Or maybe it would be loud—or some kind of presence that you could sense. He expected it to be noticeable. It wasn’t any of these things. It was dark, as if they were looking at it without their suit’s augmented vision.
For almost a year, Kold and his sister waited in line, slowly progressing through a series of caves, waiting for this very moment. When they entered the last room of the cave system, they left the range of the preacher and a devo connected to their suits to give instructions, which were repeated every hour for the next two days, until it was their turn.
“We’re going to do it!” said Dejah.
“We’re going to do it. We made it,” said Kold.
“And once we get back there, we will find Ammalee!”
He checked to make sure her comms were set to private—he didn’t need anyone to hear her go on! He certainly didn’t need any trouble this close to the void. “Just focus on the instructions.”
“But we will find her, right?”
“If you pay attention and do as you’re told, we will search for her—I can’t promise we will find her. But pay attention. When these suits get removed, I won’t be able to see you. Understand?”
“Yes. I’m ready.” She grabbed his hand. “Our way is Ammalee.”
“And I vow to travel it.” He recited the response as he had been taught his entire life. But he didn’t mean it. Not anymore, and hadn’t for years.
The faithfuls gave Ammalee credit for everything! But Kold knew better. It was devos who discovered the void, and they had nothing to do with Ammalee. Their roots go back to the very science that made these suits work, like the exoskeleton of a cockroach able to keep humans alive in the most hostile of environments, which accounted for most of earth at this point. Science—not faith—saved them. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t recite the response. It was a habit he hadn’t broken. It was six words that helped his sister calm down—and if he ever needed her to be calm, it was now.
The devos explained the process one more time and then began the countdown. There had never been an easier way to travel back in time—two steps towards darkness and five thousand years would rewind in a blink of an eye.
It was to be a re-birth.
Back to a time when suits were no longer needed.
Kold took in a deep breath right before his exoskeleton opened.
The helmet lifted off his head first, and without his helmet and screen, the darkness of the void engulfed the entire room.
The life support tubes withdrew from his body next. He squirmed from the sensation, but tried not to cry. Mostly he worried about how Dejah was handling it, but without the suit, he couldn’t see or hear her. He knew she’d be praying to Ammalee—she was always praying! And he would pray too—if he thought it would help.
He focused on the instructions from the devos, but was getting lightheaded from the lack of air. Without the suit he realized how cold it was in the cave—and moist. The radiation leached in from groundlevel, and thin as it was, he could feel it begin to eat his skin.
He stepped out of his suit as it opened, and found it hard to lift his leg without support. Tripping, he fell to the ground. After he got back up he stood for the first time, free of his suit. Then a moment passed where he wasn’t sure if he was still in the cave or on the journey into the dark. He couldn’t see, but he could hear his sister crying. He reached for her, but couldn’t find her in the darkness! He reached for her again, and then he felt it. A devo brushed up against him. He had never felt one against his flesh before. It was soft, and warm, like a summer breeze against bare skin in a world where the sun still shone.
The devo shoved him and Dejah into the darkness.
***
“Welcome to the year 3051” was the first thing Kold heard when he woke up.
He was on his back and couldn’t move. It felt as if he was in a stalled exoskeleton—but as disoriented as he was, he was certain that he had taken his suit off.
He tried to open his eyes but all he could see was white. He blinked but the whiteness wouldn’t go away. He tried to lift his arms again, but couldn’t tell if they were tied down or if he was too weak. He blinked again, and this time it worked. The white gave way to shapes and blurs, as if the room was filled with devos, all surrounding him—their projections against the white walls.
“Your eyesight should return fully in the next four hours,” said the voice in the room. It spoke with a thick accent.
“Where am I?” His attempt to talk forced him to cough up phlegm. He spit it out towards the ground.
“You are in room 102, of the C-Block of the Immigration Intake Hospital in Sector 4.”
“Where’s my sis…?” His voice cracked, again, losenning more phlegm, which he hacked to get out.
“You need to strengthen your vocal chords—your body isn’t used to operating without support.”
“Where’s my sister?” he asked again, straining his throat.
“One of the members of your group was a match for DNA and thus is located in the bed next to you. She is awake but refuses to communicate with us.”
“Dejah! Where are you? Are you there?” he asked as loudly as he could. He tried to move again, but couldn’t. He was certain now that he wasn’t just weak. He was tied down! “You need to let me go. I need to see my sister.” He pushed, but he couldn’t break free. “Let me out of this!”
“She is awake and is looking at you, but refuses to communicate,” said the voice again. “You will be reunited with her soon. For now, it is unwise to yell. It will make the recovery longer.”
Someone opened the door to their room. Kold turned towards the noise. The shape was of a human, tall and dark, but still out of focus.
“Who is that?” he asked.
The figure talked to the other voice in the language of the ancestors. Kold could recognise some of the words, but not enough to make sense of it. Then he felt someone grab his arms. He shook, but he couldn’t pull away.
“Don’t move,” said the voice, once again speaking Kold’s language.
The person poked his skin with a needle. It hurt. Then he heard Dejah cry a little.
“Let me see my sister!”
“Your eyesight will return shortly, at which time you will be able to see her,” said the voice.
“No. I want to be with her. And who was that? Where am I?”
“This is your doctor,” said the voice. “He’s just discharged you.”
“Discharged? Was that the poke you just put in my arm?”
“That was a needle, with the last of your prescriptions. You’ve been released. I will show you to the door.” With that, the straps holding him, released. He shot up, and went in the direction of Dejah’s cry. She met his arms, and they held each other on the bed.
“I’m here Dejah. I’m here,” said Kold.
“It is time to leave. Follow me please,” said the voice.
An arm, like that of a person in an exoskeleton, lifted him from the bed. Dejah followed and they walked to the door, hand in hand. His legs were tired, and he breathed heavily. Which is what he noticed first. He breathed, freely and without support from a suit! With each step, his thin legs slid along the floor, and his sight started to return. He looked at the person helping him, only to realize it wasn’t a person at all. It had arms, but no legs. It moved with a set of tracks that ran along the floor like wheels. In place of a head, it had a screen.
“What are you?” asked Kold.
“I am a bot, you can call me E45.”
“What’s a bot?”
“I am told I am similar to your devos—if they were confined to a machine, instead of projected as energy—but I have never met one myself, so I can’t confirm.”
It was dark outside, and it made it easier for Kold and Dejah to see each other. They paused to look at the stars in a sky they had lived under their entire lives, but had never seen.
Behind them, a steep cliff sat above the entrance of the cave, now blocked by fences. In front of them, two-story buildings lined a long dirt road that E45 led them down. To the right, the buildings sat next to a tall rock wall, with a fence that ran along the top ridge. To the left, more buildings stretched on towards the night sky. And behind them, they could see the cliff above the entrance to the cave. They had been here before, but at a time when there were no such structures. As they walked, E45 explained what they saw.
“In each dorm there are one hundred rooms, and in each room, there are 1-4 visitors.”
“Visitors?” asked Kold.
“That is what we call you. For you are not a resident here,” said E45.
They passed hundreds of others like them on their way, all sitting out on the steps of the buildings and leaning against walls, their white skin almost glowing in the night air. A few residents—that’s what they called non-visitors—were walking around as well, accompanied by similar bots. The residents stood out, for they had hair on their heads, and were quite a bit shorter, and thicker arms and bodies overall. But the visitors and residents both wore exoskeletons that were thin and clung to their bodies, and almost never included helmets. Kold noticed he had a loose-fitting exoskeleton on as well. He touched it. It was non-metallic, and didn’t provide any added strength or apparent protection, and only covered his chest, legs, and parts of his arms. The rest of his arms and head were exposed to the night sky. His feet were covered too, but separately from the rest.
He looked at Dejah; she wore a similar suit—and neither had a mask or any air support. She returned his look, but said nothing.
While they walked, E45 continued to give them instructions, but he talked fast and with such an accent it was hard to understand.
At one point, they stopped and E45 spoke more directly. They stood outside of a large building, with a black door that butted up to the dirt street and a long awning that stretched out like a stick hanging from the face of a rock. Kold looked up and read the heading above the door. It was written in both the language of the ancestors and Kold’s native tongue: “Building for Immigration #5”
“According to the Time Preservation Act of 3020,” E45 explained, “you are permitted to live your final days here, in this time displacement camp,” he said, gesturing with his metallic arms, “but during your time, you are not allowed to contaminate the outside world. You have been assigned to Dorm 367, which I will take you to directly. Tomorrow, at 800, you will have your intake interview here, with myself and an immigraiton officer. If you miss this meeting, there will be marks added to your profile, and it will impact your future work release. Now this way.”
They walked again. Most of the visitors ignored them, but a few would pause and point as they walked alongside E45. Then, after passing a few more buildings, E45 stopped again.
“This is where you will find body supplements. Your clothes will no longer feed you—this is very important for you to comprehend. In the back of this building, they will teach you how to properly consume.” He pointed towards the building.
Visitors were lined up. Kold watched as they waited patiently to get into the building. Then, one person left the line, walked a few feet, turned towards where the moon was shining in the night sky, and knelt down to pray.
Without his suit and it’s reminders, Kold didn’t know until he saw this guy that it was time for evening prayer.
Kold hadn’t allowed Dejah to practice prayer when they were in line, for fear of causing trouble, but each time his alert went off, he would encourage Dejah to pray in her head. He convinced her that it was just as effective this way.
The visitor began to raise his voice, praying loudly in the tongue of the ancestors, jumping between speech and song, with a voice that could raise the dead.
Kold looked around and noticed no one else joined him in prayer. He started to bend up and down, his arms loose in the air, waving back and forth, his voice getting louder and more beautiful. It was the first time he’d seen someone pray without a suit, and it was captivating. He noticed Dejah let go of his hand, and started to neel, when he grabbed her.
“No. Not now.”
He went back to watch the man, when someone left the line, and walked up to him with a tray. He swung and smacked the man across the face. Then a few others ran up and started to kick him.
Dejah clung to Kolds arm and he pulled her behind him, to block her view of the incident. Kold knew they would never forgive the faithfuls, for their part in causing the darkness. Not even now, on this side of the void.
“Oh, please disregard him,” said E45, “The visitor received a bad match on his housing, and this creates tension in his unit. His transfer is being processed.”
Just as he said that, three bots arrived and used stunners to get the mob to stop. The faithful laid for a moment before turning back to his knees, and tried to lift his beaten arms into the air, doing his best to finish his prayer, much quieter this time.
E45 continued to give them instructions as if nothing had happened. “You will get famished tonight, but your next meal will be with the return of the Sun. You must remember the location of this building in relation to your dorm. Your guide, who you will meet at your dorm, will assist you. Now this way.”
A few more buildings later, Kold and Dejah entered one of the dorms, and E45 escorted them to their room. “After a week’s time—after your body has had time to adjust—you will be assigned work—it will be in your best interest to do all you can to get yourself to a place where you can accomplish the work required of you. Do you understand?”
“Work?” asked Kold.
“Yes, everyone here has a job. In a week’s time, you will be required to work. Now, one final piece of advice. You can not sleep standing up anymore. It is recommended that you lay down on these.” He gestured to two beds, one on top of each other, that filled the small room. “Surely, you are tired. Please sleep.”
With that, Kold and Dejah were left in the room by themselves. They sat down on the lower bunk. He was about to say something, when someone opened their door. Two older men stood at the entrance.
“A paley, huh?” asked the old man in the front.
“Paley?” said Kold. He tried to stand up, but his legs were too tired.
“Yeah—pale as the sun!” the guy laughed. “Not just paley’s, but young ones too. And no parents?” He shook his head. “Let me give you some advice: I’d keep to myself if I were you. Little ones like you don’t fare well here.”
“Oh give them a break,” said the old man behind him.
“I’m just being honest with them, Whitt—it’s in their best interest.” He turned back to them. “And I’ll be honest about this too: I sleep when the sun returns, and you paleys are so excited to see it, you’re always up. But I don’t want any noise, you hear? You will regret it if I do. Now, welcome to the year 3051! Just what you always wanted huh? Paradise! Yeah, dry, hot, paradise!” With that he left and slammed the door, but the other visitor caught it.
“Don’t mind him.” He pushed the door all the way open, and latched it against the wall. “Frill isn’t as bad as he seems. He works in the mines—like most of the guys here, and it always puts him in a mood.” He extended his hand towards Kold. “I’m Whitt.” Kold flinched at the gesture. “Oh, yea. Sorry. It’s called a ‘shaking hand.’ I learned it from the residents. It’s a way to greet someone. Like this.” He reached for Kold’s hand, who hesitated for a moment, before extending his to match it. Whitt’s hand was soft and moist. “I’ve learned lots from the residents, you know. Got a job in their offices. Some judge me for it, but they don’t judge me when I bring home extra supplements. And that’s not the best of it.”
He entered the room and looked behind him. “Want to hear more?” He didn’t wait for a response. He unlatched the door, and let it swing closed. “The world you see outside isn’t all of it—that’s what I like to tell new visitors, because I don’t want you to get the wrong impression.
“I’ve seen pictures. In the office. I wasn’t supposed to, but I’ve seen it. There’s places where the plants grow as tall as buildings. Where the ground lifts out of the dirt a green carpet soft to the touch—I’ve seen it myself. I’ve heard the residents talk about it too! Snow too—in places. Not around here, of course. Have you ever learned about snow? Some places got lots of it. Not like this dirt bowl.”
Dejah leaned towards Kold and whispered, “Is this the waiting place Ammalee spoke of?”
“Shhh,” returned Kold, pushing her back.
Whitt straightened up at her remark and he smiled real big, showing off his mouth of missing teeth. “Oh, little girl, you need to be quieter if you don’t want anyone to hear you. You ain’t got a suit to change the frequency on,” he said, tapping his head, as if he was still wearing a helmet. He leaned back down and got close to them. “Now, I knew the moment I saw you two: I bet those were a couple of faithfuls—I knew it, and I was right—and I aint got anything wrong with it either. I don’t, and there’s nothing anyone can tell me to change my mind. And I know what you’re thinking: what about the darkness? Well, I don’t think the darkness was the faithful’s fault—it’s not as simple as that. You can’t argue that they didn’t have a role to play though. But it shouldn’t matter here. We got enough light for everyone—more than we can use. No, the truth is: I’m a bit of a believer myself, not that I want you telling anyone. You see, it’d be unfortunate if the wrong person found out, especially for someone as small as you.” He stood back up. “If you want to stay safe, I’d tell your sister to keep that private.”
“We’re not like other faithfuls,” said Kold.
“Oh, I’m sure you’re not; and me either. But unless you want to transfer to one of their dorms, I don’t recommend talking about it here. You can trust me on that. It’s a promise—and worth your attention. But you don’t have to worry about anything tonight—Old Whitt is going to take care of both of you—I’ve been asked by Officer Lynn herself, and so you can be sure it’s a guarantee, one hundred percent certified. And as a sign of appreciation, take this.” He handed them a bar, wrapped in cloth. “You’re going to wake up hungry—and you won’t even know what it means to be hungry, until you wake up with it. This will help. You chew it, and swallow. It’ll hurt at first, but it’s the only way.” He reached down and grabbed Kold’s cheeks, squeezing them. “You got your teeth too, so that helps.” Kold shoved him away. “Now, what you two need is sleep. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
He left, without any time for them to respond, closing the door behind him.
Dejah hopped off the bed and looked Kold right in the eyes.
“We have to find Ammalee!”
“You heard the man, we can’t talk about that here.”
“But you promised! You promised you’d help me find her.”
“Dejah, we’re here. We’re 5000 years into the past. We can breathe the air. Tomorrow, we will see the sun for the first time. We’ve traveled as far as anyone ever has. We don’t need to stir up trouble talking about Ammalee.”
“But you promised!”
“We’re not talking about it—not here. Understand?”
Dejah got quiet. She sat back down on the bed, but this time on the far side, away from Kold. “I wish dad was here.”
***
Kold and Dejah sat on the front steps of the dorm. The sun was returning, and they wanted to be there to watch it sneak past the buildings. With each inch it went up, their eyes squinted to adjust. Soon, it was so bright, they could only see white. It was warm, like the embrace of a devo, but a hundred times better.
“We made it,” said Kold.
“Yes, we made it,” said Dejah.
“Look, I’m sorry about last night. I know I promised, and I’m going to keep my eyes and ears open.” Kold turned and put his arms on Dejah. “But you know that there’s no reason to believe that we will find Ammalee.” He paused. “Do you understand? We might have understood the stories wrong.”
“I know,” said Dejah. “But we are going to look for her, right? We have to keep looking—that is the way.”
“Yes, we will keep looking.”
Kold turned back to the sun, his stomach growled and he took out the last of the bar Whitt had given them. It was hard to swallow, but he got a few more pieces down, and handed some to Dejah. He leaned against his arms, turning his head up towards the sun, and with his eyes closed, he let the warmth embrace him.
“I’d be careful if I were you two,” said Whitt.
They turned, and let their eyes adjust to the darkness of the hallway behind them.
“You’re gonna burn if you don’t get out of the sun.”
“What?” asked Kold.
“It’s going to burn you. Your skin isn’t used to it, not like the residents, and even the lighter ones have to be careful. And if you’re in the sun too long, it’ll burn you. Likely to reach 310 Kelvins today.”
Dejah leaned in and whispered into Kold’s ear again.“The sky rains down fire…”
“Shh. Not here.”
“But it’s just like we were told—the sky rains down fire!”
“Be quiet, Dej.”
“You two need to practice it a little more on your whispering,” said Whitt.
They turned again. Whitt looked around, and then leaned down towards them. “But there are a lot of things that you Ammalee people will say is true: Sun burns. I’ve heard it—the sky raining down fire. Heard a lot of other things too. That’s not the worst of it. Look around: notice anything?”
They looked around. The dirt road stretched on with buildings lining it as far as they could see. There were only a few visitors out walking—not nearly as many as last night. And they were all draped, from head to toe, in white cloth.
“You don’t notice! There’s no babies! The only children we get come through the void—like you. Now, I know what you’re thinking: We don’t have our suits, so how would we incubate one? Well, I’ll tell you how! The old fashioned way, that’s how! Did they teach you that in school?”
“Of course,” said Kold. Except, he didn’t learn it from school. He learned about it from an older man he camped with for a couple of weeks in line.
“Well, that part works—with enough practice, and once your bodies are done waking up—and it’s great; something you’re gonna need to figure out, young man. But still no children… Why, you ask? Well, the residents won’t tell us anything. But we got our theories. Some say it’s because our bodies evolved too much. But others say it’s…” He looked around again and then bent down. “They say…. It’s for the same reason they keep us locked up in this compound.
“They don’t want us mixing with society or we will mess everything up. Of course, we all know that isn’t how time works. The present is always the one responsible for the future, not the other way around! But the residents don’t listen to reason—not many anyways. What I’m saying is they don’t want us leaving here, or living here more than we have to!” He stretched his neck back into the dorm to make sure no one was coming down the hall before continuing. He lowered his voice. “So it would make sense that back in the hospital, they made sure we couldn’t give birth. Maybe it’s in the medicine they gave us. Or maybe it was some kind of operation… Oh don’t look surprised! They are so worried we will impact the way things are, it’s only logical. They wouldn’t want to keep us here forever—for generations, I mean. But, as a faithful, that’s where you say ‘oh they are stealing our babies’ and well, depending on how you look at it, I’d have to agree with you. But, you didn’t hear that from Whitt, did you? You didn’t hear that from me. Not any of it.” He held his hands up to his mouth, to keep him from talking anymore. “Aint gonna say anything else” he said, through his fingers. “And just in time too.” He pointed towards the road. “Looks like you’ve got to get yourself ready for intake.” They turned. Rolling up to their dorm was E45. Whitt leaned in. “I wouldn’t say anything bad about E45, but you’re gonna love Officer Lynn—she’s good people.” And with that, he disappeared into the building.
“Come with me, please,” said E45, as he approached.
***
Kold and Dejah were escorted to the immigraiton building after a short breakfast and ended up in a room with a few chairs where they were to wait for their appointment. Their throats hurt from their breakfast, and to make it worse, they were hungry.
The sun had shone on them the entire walk, leaving their skin bright red. Kold watched Dejah press the sunburnt parts of her forearm. With each impression, her skin turned white, and then red again when she lifted her finger.
“Stop that,” said Kold.
She ignored him.
E45 entered the waiting room. “She will see you now.”
He escorted them into a small room, with a table in the center. At the table, a woman sat behind a stack of white, leaf-like material, and then a small screen with a pad of buttons. Kold looked at the buttons and recognized the letters on them as the ancestors’ alphabet—an alphabet similar to his own.
The woman started talking in the ancestors’ language, and Kold thought he could understand what she was saying, but E45 interpreted her before he could piece it together. “I will be translating for Officer Lynn,” explained E45, “She said ‘please come in, and have a seat. I will be with you in a moment.’”
This was the first resident they got to see up close. Kold couldn’t help but notice her long brown hair, but also the little patches of hair above her eyes. He noticed she even had hair on her eyes, and when he looked closer, other places as well.
“I love her hair,” whispered Dejah to Kold. She had practiced controlling her volume, but not enough to be successful in an otherwise quiet room. The woman looked up at the comment and looked at E45, who started to translate, but then she lifted a finger for him to stop.
She brushed her hair behind her, and tied it back, and then put on a thin helmet that had a piece sticking out just above her eyes, like the awning of the building.
As she talked, E45 translated, often on top of what she was saying.
“Sorry, I know the hair can be a distraction. Please don’t let it be.”
She closed her computer.
“Now, it is nice to meet you Dejah and Kold. Welcome to year 3051. I see you found your dorm last night, and made it to the cafeteria this morning. I hope Whitt was of assistance—he is a bit to handle at times, but he means well. I know eating is difficult at first, but I’d encourage you to take your time and give your throat time to heal. Do you understand?”
Kold was sure he could understand a lot of the words she was saying, but her accent was thick—and nothing like the pronunciations he had learned from his dad. But it was similar enough if only E45 stopped translating over her and he had time to listen.
“Now, I’m told you are faithfuls.” She shuffled through her papers and found their housing form. “If that’s the case, we need to get you moved immediately. You won’t be safe where you are. Faithfuls don’t do well in the general population.” She turned to E45, speaking in her native tongue, and Kold tried to listen. It seemed the officer worried for their safety in the current dorm, but E45 said the process for transfer would take longer than the officer wanted. Then they argued and talked too quickly for Kold to understand.
Kold was so set on translating them, that he was startled when Dejah grabbed his arm.
He didn’t respond, so Dejeh pulled on his arm so that it nearly knocked him out of his chair. He noticed that time, and Officer Lynn stopped, noticing as well.
“Is she alright?” she asked.
Dejah pulled Kold close and whispered into his ear again.
“Look!” she pointed to one of the white, leaf-like sheets on her desk. Written in the top corner of the sheet was a spot that when translated meant “name” or more accurately, “in the name of.” Next to this slot was a line with the officer’s name. In the ancestor language, her name was pronounced Jamie Lynn, but translated into Kold and Dejah’s native tongue, it became something else. It could be translated a couple different ways, but one of them—and one that few would recognize—translated it as Amma Lee. And so, on this paper, right in front of them, to an astute student of language, it read, “In the name of Amma Lee.”
“Ammalee!” yelled Dejah.
“Yes, Ammalee,” said the officer. “But it’d be wise to not shout that outside of this room. Do you understand?”
Kold looked at the white sheet and the letters written on them. Dejah had translated them correctly.
Their languages weren’t so different—they were the same language, only separated by thousands of years. Kold understood this better than most. Right in front of him was a sheet of paper that read the words he had recited a thousand times. “In the name of Amma Lee”
He swallowed and reached for the desk, running his finger across the paper. He looked up at the officer.
“We need to get you transferred,” said Officer Lynn, “And until we do, you need to keep your faith to yourself, do you understand?”
“This name” he forced out in the language of the ancestors as best he could, “Jamie Lynn,” pointing to the paper. “belongs to you?”
“What did you say?” asked the officer.
“This name—Jamie Lynn—belongs to you?” he asked again.
“Yes. Jamie Lynn. But here, Officer Lynn. Do you understand?”
E45 started to translate, but she waved her hand again to stop him.
“Understand, words of you. Yes,” he said.
“How do you understand?” She glanced at her open file of them.
“Parents. Parents of me. Parents of them. Generations passed down. We learned from the ancestors. We learned from you,” said Kold.
“Me? What are you talking about?”
“Jamie Lynn. Ammalee! We learned from you. You promised to help us. You promised to save us,” said Kold.
“I have made no such promises, I am sorry. I can’t even transfer you without the permission of my supervisor. No, you must be confused.”
“Are you not Jamie Lynn?”
“Yes, I’m Jamie Lynn. But I am not Ammalee.”
“No. The same. The same. Jamie Lynn and Ammalee— the same. They are the same,” said Kold.
He looked at E45, nodded to give him permission to translate, and then started talking more freely in his native tongue.
“You see, your name is translated as Ammalee. They are the same.”
He went on to explain how it all worked. How the name, Ammalee, used to be Hamma Leen—because the n got lost behind the long e, and the H was dropped from their alphabet entirely. Before that, Hamma Leen used to be Yamie Leyn, the a shifting to an ie as a cultural preference. And Yamie Leyn was a short step away from Jamie Lynn, since J’s and Y’s were often interchangeable between the two languages. He explained all of this just like his dad had explained it to him. “They are the same. Don’t you see?”
“Well, that is a strange coincidence; and I promise nothing more.”
“No. There are too many coincidences. We are the keeper of the stories. And the stories told us of how fire would fall from heaven. And how the ancestors would steal our babies. And how we would wait only a short time before meeting Ammalee who would deliver us. We waited in the cave for months, and I had already stopped believing the stories. But here we are and here you are, Jamie Lynn. We were taught all of this for such a time as this! You are the way!”
“Look, I promise I am not the way. I’m an immigraiton officer, that’s all. And not a very important one, for what it’s worth. I can’t help you, I’m sorry. I think it’s best if you get a new officer moving forward,” she grabbed her white sheets and stuffed them into a folder. “That will be all for today.”
“Ammalee, you can’t!” said Dejah.
“I’m not Ammalee. I’m Officer Lynn, and this meeting is over.”
“Wait,” said Kold, speaking her language again. “Check first. Check first. Check our blood! Check. If we speak truth,” he said, gesturing to him and his sister, “You are our ancestor. Check our blood.”
“This meeting is over. 45, please escort them out.”
With that, she left the room.
***
Dejah was standing against the small window while Kold kicked his bed. He looked for something to throw, but the room was sparse. There were uniforms in a draw, and sheets on the bed, but that was all. So he kicked the bed again before slumping to the ground and resting his head against the bed frame. Dejah walked up, and placed her hand on his back. Then she sat down and rested her head against him.
“That was so stupid. What got into me?”
“She’s going to help us,” said Dejah. “She’s going to help us, I promise. She will take us to where the ground turns green.”
He turned around and grabbed hold of her.
“No she’s not. She’s not Ammalee! How stupid do you have to be? How stupid was I think that? We’re nothing but fools, and we deserve to be treated as such. She’s not coming to find us. This is our life now. All of this, with everyone else. We have to accept it, Dejah. We have to accept it.” He shook her while he talked, and she started to cry.
When he let go, she went back to the window and slouched under it.
“We have to let this go. We have to move on,” he said.
Kold crawled into bed, and pulled the sheet up over his head.
His stomach ached. His arms and legs were sore. And he wanted to cry.
All of it was so embarrassing.
When Kold woke up, he turned over, and lifted the sheet, to look at the window. He didn’t remember falling asleep, and assumed to find Dejah under the window. But she wasn’t there.
He threw the sheets off, and got out of bed. She wasn’t in the top bunk either. He ran down to the public bath, and then out to the front door of the dorm.
She wasn’t anywhere. She had run away again.
***
This wasn’t the first time she’d run away. He remembered when she tried to do it back in the colony. He couldn’t convince her to stay—she insisted on making it to the cave, and traveling the void, even though their dad wasn’t around to take her. In the end, he left only because he knew he couldn’t keep her from going alone.
He ran to the immigration office hoping to find her there. She would seek out Jamie Lynn—she would do anything to find her, now that she believed she was the one. He peered around every corner of every building but didn’t see her—or many other visitors. The sun was directly overhead and he could feel it burning his skin. When he arrived, she wasn’t there. And what made matters worse, Jamie Lynn wasn’t in her office either. She had just left and wouldn’t return until the following day. A bot at the front desk scheduled him for a meeting, and explained he could file the paperwork for a missing child with her then.
He went back to his dorm, and looked for Whitt, but couldn’t find him. He knocked on Frill’s door, who threw him out into the hall so hard he hit his head against the handle of the door behind him, cutting head open. He sat in the hallway, and felt the blood drip down the back of his neck. He got up and went to his room and shut the door. He grabbed the sheet from his bed, and threw it over himself, and wished to be back home, in his suit, where things made sense. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know who to ask for help. He didn’t know how to make things right. So he sat up on his knees, the sheet still covering him, as if to hide his posture from the world. With the sheet forming a tent draped over his head, and blood starting to bleed through it, he bent his head to the floor, and spread out his arms waving them slowly. Against all that he believed, he threw out a prayer in the direction where the sun returned each day. “In the name of Ammalee…”
“Kold?” asked a voice from the room.
He threw the sheet off, and turned to the door. It was E45.
“Officer Lynn has returned early. She will see you now. Please come with me.”
***
Kold sat at the table, and across from him, was an empty chair. Next to the chair, stood E45. Officer Lynn entered with her handheld screen and placed it on the table. She didn’t make eye contact with Kold, until she had sat down and adjusted the papers on her desk. “Kold, I understand your sister has gone missing? I’m sorry. Let me explain how this will work.” She reached for her stack of papers, and then shuffled through them. She turned to E45. Kold tried to do his best to translate their conversation, but it was quick and he was dizzy. All he could make out was that she needed something that was left somewhere else, and she wanted E45 to go get it. E45 disagreed, for he wasn’t supposed to leave the room during a session, but in the end, she insisted and he left.
When he did, Jamie turned to Kold. She reached across the table for his hands and held them.
“We have a few moments alone, so listen. Do you understand?”
He thought for a second, translating her words, and then responded. “Yes, I understand.”
“You can find your sister at the Immigration Building 457. Do you understand?”
“Building of Immigration, 457?”
“Yes. Go there tonight. This evening, when the sun runs away, and the moon is here.” She pointed to the ceiling above her. “When the moon is here, go to the back of building 457. Understand?”
“Building of 457. When the sun is gone?”
“Exactly 4-5-7. Be there. When the moon is here.”
“Here,” he said, pointing to the ceiling, like her.
“Don’t tell anyone. Especially 45.”
“I understand.”
At that, E45 entered the room, and she straightened up and stopped talking. They filed the paperwork, and then escorted him back to his dorm, where he had no option but to wait.
***
The air was crisp, and Kold’s clothes were too thin for the light breeze. He held his arms around his chest, as he stood behind Building 457. A few yards from the building sat a cliff that towered over him, and above that, the fence that surrounded the compound visible only as a dark silhouette against the midnight sky. In the stillness, he heard his name.
“Kold,” said someone. He turned towards the rock wall. “Over here,” they said again.
Kold ran up to the voice. It was Whitt, from his dorm. “Whitt, do you have Dejah? Give her back, Whitt! Give her back!”
“Calm down. Calm down. She’s right here.” From behind Whitt, Dejah ran to Kold.
“Dejah!” shouted Kold.
“Quiet, quiet—we don’t want to draw attention.”
“Where have you been?” he asked her.
“I didn’t come back—I told them I couldn’t. I was afraid you wouldn’t leave with me, if I did.”
“Leave?” he turned to Whitt, “What have you been doing with Dejah?”
“Me? I was doing nothing, and I don’t appreciate your tone. Now are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
Whitt laughed. “You don’t know what’s going on, do you? Did Ammalee not tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Your time has come, my friend—much sooner than most, but it’s for the best, I promise you. Transfers are tricky and you won’t survive praying back at your dorm—not someone as young as you two. Now come!” Whitt grabbed him and pulled him to the rock wall, with Dejah in tow. Near the crevice of the rock, a small cave opened up. A few meters into the cave, a metal grate blocked a cement pipe.
“What is this?” asked Kold.
Dejah pulled on his shirt, and Kold bent down to her. “Ammalee—she’s real. She sent me to Whitt and then sent for you—we’re leaving, Kold. She’s delivering us, just as the stories said.”
Whitt reached into his pocket and grabbed a key. He unlocked the gate and explained what to do, and which turns to make, but not much else.
“I don’t understand,” said Kold.
“It’s not my job to make you understand. It’s my job to get you out.” With that, he shoved Kold into the tunnel, and closed the gate behind them. “Or at least that’s my understanding of it,” continued Whitt, “I don’t understand half of what she says—not without the help of a translator—and that wouldn’t do us any good. Those bots aren’t any help to us—they don’t care about what’s right, only what’s legal—and we all know those aren’t always the same thing. No, I don’t know the ancient language as well as you. It’s rather impressive, I hear.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you think you’re the first to come who had been trained in the ways of ‘Jamie Lynn’? You’re the first to speak the language? You think you’re the first to see her name written on the paper—as if it was placed in front of you by accident? You would be foolish to think so. You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last. One day, when my service is complete, it will be my turn! Now get!” And with that, he locked the gate, and ran off into the darkness.
The tunnel wound down and soon filled with water. Kold wadded through it, and carried Dejah in the deep parts.
“Saved through the belly of a snake’” said Dejah.
“Yeah, the belly of a snake,” said Kold.
When they arrived at the end, there was a similar gate, and on the other side, someone stood waiting. They unlocked the gate.
“Jamie Lynn?” asked Kold.
She opened the gate, and a nearby light shone on her face. “Yes,” she said, with a big smile. “I’ll explain everything. But for now, hurry and get in.” She gestured to a large metal and glass box that sat on wheels. The back of the box had a latch and she opened it. Then she lifted up the floor of the box to show a compartment. “It’s not very comfortable. But you need to stay here until I retrieve you. Do you understand?”
“Yes. When?” asked Kold.
“When I’m done with my shift—when I’m done working—we will take this and drive out of here, but until then, you have to remain hidden.”
“Then it is true. You are Ammalee?” asked Kold.
“No,” said Jamie. “Well… Yes… I mean, no—it’s complicated. Here, get in, and I will explain as best I can, for now.” They climbed in and she leaned down to them. “I am Jamie Lynn. Ammalee is something else—I don’t understand half of what you all believe, but it’s a lot more than anything I’ve ever done. Your faith is bigger than me. Now, it’s possible, if you pulled your faith back or… tore it apart, you might find ‘Jamie Lynn’ at the beginning—or someone else—who am I to say? But it’s not like one equals the other. Does that make sense?” The look on their faces made it clear they couldn’t understand—or didn’t want to. She continued, talking as if only to herself, and looking back towards the rock wall they had crawled out of. “Right now, thousands of people similar to you live there. And are treated a little better than slaves. It’s horrible—you didn’t see half of it. You didn’t see the mines, or what they do in the hospital. Or…” She shook her head and turned back to them. Kold’s eyes were wide, and his brain raced as he tried to comprehend her words. She spoke slower this time, and Kold was able to follow along. “Both of you know what it’s like to be mistreated and hated simply for being different. Well, my Ammalee won’t let me have any part of that. And even though I will save a few, the rest have their faith to hold them—in a way Ammalee has saved them even if Jamie Lynn can’t.” She started to get back up and lifted her arm to close the door. “But to be clear as an Episcopalian, I’m uncomfortable with anyone thinking I’m some kind of god.”
“No. Not god,” explained Kold. “Ammalee is the way to god—the way to salvation.”
“Well, I am your way out of here, that’s for sure. But, I need you to stay here and be quiet.”
She went to close the door, when Kold spoke up. “What’s a pis-o-palen?” asked Kold.
“That’s… For another time. For now, you must stay quiet until I return.” With that, she closed the door.
Kold laid in the back compartment of Jamie’s vehicle, holding his sister. The promises—they started to feel true again. But having experienced them, they felt less magical than he expected. In fact, they happened without much faith from him at all.
***
Jamie lived on a farm two hours north of the compound. A few trees grew along the road that led to her garage. One large tree grew next to her house. It’s branches reached out towards the horizon and cast a deep shadow on hot summer days. Thin patches of grass grew under the tree, and sharp, thick stalks of green leaves stuck out of the ground like tongues coming out of a mouth. Many other plants grew nearby, many of them sharp to the touch. This landscape of spattered green reached for the horizon.
Dejah and Kold never adjusted to the sun, and spent many days under the large tree. Other visitors would come, but over time, they would leave, snuck to a network of safe houses. Most were children or the elderly and sick—visitors who would not survive in the compound. All and all, Officer Lynn smuggled five hundred visitors.
Yet, none were able to bear children.
Ten years after their escape, visitors stopped arriving from the void. Everyone assumed it was a sign of the end. That the future finally collapsed and there weren’t any humans left to travel. Over time, the compound grew smaller and smaller, until it was closed down for good. In the end, Dejah was the last of the visitors. She had lived to an old age—a lot longer than she would have in a suit. It’s possible she was the last of the visitors in any era, both now and in the future. One could say she was the last human to walk the earth, even though she was survived by many of Jamie’s children and grandchildren.
Jamie Lynn had three small children and no husband. When her children grew old enough, she shared these stories with them. Eventually they shared the stories with her grandchildren. And eventually her great-grandchildren, until one day, thousands of years in the future, a little boy named Kold sat on his father’s lap and heard the stories for himself.
Joe Graves grew up in Hicksville, Ohio as one of seven (!) kids, but now lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, Allyssa, and their son, Finn. He is the lead pastor at Central City Church. He enjoys almost anything creative but loves storytelling the best, currently exploring the intersection of faith & science, technology & nature, and issues of justice through the science fiction genre. Learn more at www.joegraves.org