Eastward in Eden

                                                  Eastward In Eden
         
         "Ami, the principal said you've been playing outside again."
         "Yes, that is true.  There is an ancient belief that clean air and sunlight are good for the body."
         "Ancient," Stephen said, "is the key word.  Those out-dated misconceptions have been superseded by  the implementation of the environment-controlled interiors.  Please stay inside, it is so much safer."
         "But the outdoors make me feel so much more...alive."
         "The avoidance of outdoor exposure is quickly becoming a law, you know," Stephen warned.  "My friend in the legislature recently said that the Mastermind has been computing this type of danger into a law.  Soon it will be illegal to spend extended time outdoors."
         "Why must we obey a computer?  It is not human, it does not understand us."
         "Ah," Stephan said.  "But the Mastermind knows us even better than we know ourselves.  It knows what is best for us.  And we obey the Mastermind and rigorously adhere to the laws of our society, because they brings us happiness," her father said.
         "Then why are you not happy."
         Father did not respond for several seconds.  He had worn out his life in the service of the society.  He had studied, he had worked, he had invented, he had contributed.  "I am happy."
         Stephen checked the time again.  Only five minutes.  Precious time squandered on childish problems.
         "And the principal said you've been losing your focus and drive.  You've always been my brilliant little girl.  There isn't a lab in all of Chicago that could produce a better specimen than you."
         Ami knew exactly what had been bothering her.  Why hadn't it been bothering him?  He had always been apathetic and insincere, but surely the death of his own father would evoke some uncomfortable feelings.
         "I miss grandpa," she said.
         "We all do," Father replied, checking the time again.  "But he was old and inefficient...he was no longer beneficial to society.  "
         "But he was beneficial to me," Ami replied. "I am part of society aren't I."
         "Do you know what a sedentary, senile man his age costs the government?  With the subhumans attacking the southern country and the Chinese making forays in the west we can't afford the onerous costs of the disabled.  Besides, grandfather went to the table completely willing -- not like some of those cowardly beings who are forced down.  He went nobly and without fear.  He led an honest life, contributed to society and went to the table for the good of the community...for your good."
         "And you believe he just ceases to exist."
         "Of course...we all saw his urn lowered into the ground.  You know the sciences...better than most your age.  The minute he stopped breathing he ceased to exist."
         "All that we come to love and know...someone that was a part of me...and a part of you...just disappears," she said.  Perhaps it was his candid apathy that bothered her most.  "That doesn't bother you?"
         His heart was beginning to throb now, but he disguised the feeling from his daughter with a tight smile that appeared across the screen.  "Of course not.  And if it did bother me what would thinking about it matter?  He is gone now and the resources that would have been squandered on the old man are now being put to good use.  New scientific advances, technological progression...think of your safety as the fruits of his brave sacrifice.  He is dead so you can live."
         "But you don't feel anything?"
         Always feeling and never thinking.  "No, why would I need to?  A feeling is just an animal instinct that must be repressed.  You learned all of this in psychology, didn't you?  Suppress all feelings.  Come now, that principle was at the foundation of everything you learned in Year One.  All of the terrible things that have happened in the past are the spoiled fruit of feelings.  All of the wars, murders, injustice, and hate all happened because someone had a feeling.  Errant feelings lead to hate, envy, malice, abuse..."
         "Love," she cut him short.  "Kindness, care, and happiness..."
         "I've had enough," Father snorted.  "You're wasting my time.  You keep talking this way and you'll be euthanized before you're eighteen."
         "Do you wonder if grandfather may still exist?"
         "Exist!" Father was shouting now.  "That is the way those religious savages speak all day.  They fear death so they talk about existing after life.  They are weak, so they worship a god who will carry them.  I, Ami, neither fear death or am weak.  I don't have to imagine a false paradise so I can sleep at night.  Do you understand?  They believe because they are weak!"
         Ami didn't respond.  She had heard these arguments before.
         Father had calmed himself now.  See, feelings, look what they do.  Ah, the ugly animal in me.  "I reprove you, because I care for you.  I want you to be efficient and effective.  I want you to contribute, because that is where you will find your greatest joy...in the knowledge that you have contributed, left a mark on the world, and done something for the progress of society.  In that end you will find joy and greet the table as nobly as your grandfather did.  And the memory of you will exist as surely as his does, in our memories, and then in the memories of the generations to come -- indelibly carved into the marble wall of those who have sacrificed their lives for the good of our grand civilization."
         Ami knew he was done so she didn't attempt to respond.  Why try and convince a computer to operate  differently when you have no control over the code?  It responds as it is programmed to respond, so a fight is futile.

__________________________


         "You've tested genius on all of the exams you've taken," Faustus said clasping his bony, white hands together.  "You are a prodigy, like your mother was.  Your father is below average, but he did a few good things.  Sometimes I'm surprised you are his offspring.  Maybe a careless mix up in the lab?"
         Ami bit her lip and fidgeted in her seat.  This place was comfortable, too comfortable as a matter of fact.
         "So you have the brains...and you are determined.  You've undoubtedly memorized everything they taught you in grade school and middle school.  But despite the knowledge you continue to break the rules..."
         "Well, I..."
         "The Mastermind is very displeased...He has been sending me messages hourly."  He rubbed his pasty forehead.  "You have no idea what it feels like to have a computer frustrated with you...it is one thing to be frustrated by a computer, but the other way around is simply unbearable.  So what is the problem then, Ami, why do you persist in standing out of line?"
         Ami hesitated, but knew her answer.  "It must be the satisfaction of freedom I feel when standing 'out of line'."
         She was honest, no doubt, Faustus thought.  Too honest.  No one got anywhere in this society being that honest.  "Obviously you don't understand freedom."
         "We learned about freedom and liberty," Ami said.  "But I rarely feel it when I follow the Mastermind and the Technocracy.  It is only when I step out of line that I feel free."
         "True liberty can only be found through organization and order, Ami.  Your 'freedom' is a false freedom.  It is destructive and chaotic.  Your supposed 'freedom' is what the subhumans across the border live by.  You have studied their culture...a loosely knit band of incompetent savages...they are 'free' aren't they.  Free as feral  dogs.  I wouldn't call animals who are starving, disorganized, and ruthless as 'free'...would you?  Did you know that they burn each other alive?"
         Ami thought on this for a moment.  "Perhaps if I had chosen society's laws I would feel free when following them."
         "You have your choice...life as a superhuman in a perfect world where all of the amenities are provided -- or a subhuman scrounging in the dirt for your daily bread."
         "Perhaps it would be better."  Ami had said this because she knew it would make him angry.  For the first time his white face began to show color; a scarlet flush in his translucent cheeks.  Faustus took a deep breath and tapped the wall, which suddenly came to life; a soft, simulated sky of cool clouds and gentle rain that soughed against the earth.
         "Why aren't you happy here?  What could be more perfect than this germ free, trouble free...gravity free life?  Did you know that not a single germ or particle of dust exists in these places."  He waved his hand around motioning to the glossy white walls, ceilings, and floor.  "The savages talk about heaven...dream about a fictitious heaven.  But, my dear, this is heaven.  This is paradise;  this is their pretended Garden of Eden.  They believe in all of these fairy tales, but we've made them come true.  You could say that we are the realization of all they believe in.  Strange paradox, eh."  He stood up from his chair, his feet hovering a few inches above the ground.
         "Do you remember the last time you walked outside from one pod to another.  Do you remember the oppressive strain of gravity on your body?  How it mercilessly pulled you down and weighed on your back. Do you recall how the sun beat down on your neck.  Oh, the harsh world.  That is the 'beautiful world' those subhuman's 'loving' God created for them.  I'll show you a 'beautiful world'...our world."  Behind him the wall of clouds transformed into a satellite view of the innumerable pods and corridors that connected the complex community.  "A perfect world created by us where there is no gravity and no sun.  And no disease and no sadness for there is no pain.  Do you remember the last time you were taken sick?  The god they worship allows men to be sick.  They mock us and say that technology is our god, and in this they are correct...so our god, our technology, allows us to live a pain free life above sickness and pain, gravity and disease."
         "I like to walk outside the pods," she said. "After a few hours of walking I feel stronger than before.  And sometimes when I run I feel like I can breathe deeper than when I am inside...I feel more alive than I ever have inside the pods.  The pull of gravity reminds me that I am a part of and connected to all that exists around me...like the tingling aliveness that you feel after waking up in the morning and the blood starts running into your legs and feet again.  You haven't tasted water until you have tasted it after being fatigued by the blazing sun.  You haven't enjoyed being healthy until you've been deathly ill."
         "I known health," he replied.  "Because I've always been healthy."
         "But what does healthy mean to you since you've never been sick."
         "I am stronger because I've never been sick."
         "No!"  she replied.  "You are weak, because you've never endured sickness."
         "Enough!"  he slapped his hand down on the table.  "You are just as animal as those subhumans across the southern border.  Subhumans...why am I even calling them that.  Savages, yes!  We must call them what they are.  We've done all we could to try and cure this civilization of beasts like you, but it just shows how corrupt this god is that they worship.  A perfect god would have created perfect people...not animals, that live their lives as insipid creatures who blindly worship him.  Or perhaps he is just a different kind of god than they claim to worship, who is supposedly merciful, kind, and just..."
         "But..."
         "No!"  he screamed with a peremptory snort. "It is a waste of my time to argue with you.  You have already proven that you are not worthy of our society...not worth our time and  resources.  Your ideas, your traitorous mind, your existence is a corrosive disease which must be obliterated.  You may be smart -- but your brilliance makes you worse than those mindless animals, because you have learned our ways and openly rejected them.  You have decided where you will stand and chosen to fight against us.  I have made my decision."
         Five seconds later two armed guards hovered in and grabbed Ami by the arms.  Faustus turned his back to her and opened a new console on the wall to log his report.  Ami didn't attempt to fight the guards as they pulled her through the door and down the hallway.