Entropy

Lunar Awards Prompt Quest #2 A short story by Nick Winney

It was always sunny and it was always warm. Ayfor stood at the edge of the pool, evaporating water prickling his skin.  Ayfor was not thinking about how pleasant any of this was.  He was thinking about the fact that he had been chosen for the Audience.  Nobody had ever come back from an Audience; not once in over 100 cycles, it was said, and this would mean that he would miss the final of the ball game. Unless…unless somehow he might return.

These thoughts preoccupied him, more than his growing sense of frustration as he waited for his unit to get out of the water and prepare for the game.  He hoped the soft hooting of the rota siren would spur them to get out. He could not understand why they did not share his eagerness to compete “They always wait, just in case the dolphins come,”  he sighed.

The dolphins sometimes came to play, swimming into the pool from a connecting tunnel. They would herd lingering swimmers to the poolside with their flippers when it was time to leave. Playing with the dolphins was pleasing and was something that some units especially liked, but for Ayfor, it was just not the same as the game … there was no winning.

The ball-game pitch formed the upper surface of the pool roof, and until the pool was empty, the roof would not close.  He observed as the opposing team from 1P began to gather but felt no urge to speak with them. He began to put on his kit. Today, his kit was blue. He won as often as lost wearing blue; green was the same. Statistically, red was best and white worst and he wondered if it would be possible to always have a red kit, although he knew that should make no difference.

A small crowd of spectators was beginning to form; nearly everybody in the Sector liked to watch the game when they could. For some, the game was the most pleasing way to spend time off-rota; for others, there was a sense of duty in competing or showing support.  Ayfor only knew that winning was the very best of feelings.

“It’s Ayfor, isn’t it?”  came a voice from behind.

Ayfor turned to see one of his opponents smiling at him. Their kit was red, he noticed, ruefully.

 “You’re always the first to be ready, aren’t you, Ayfor.”  There was a pause “I’m Peet,”  Peet added, helpfully.

“Sorry, Peet....” Ayfor trailed off. He was not good with faces and names, relying on tags, when he was bothered at all.  He rubbed at the tag on his own forehead absently.

Peet looked over his shoulder “If you really want to start, why don’t you call them out?”

“They’re waiting for the dolphins now. Look.”

Peet studied Ayfor’s disappointed face, but Ayfor was focussed on his unit, who were now disappearing up the tunnel, whistling and clicking.

“Don’t take everything so seriously, Ayfor,” he said, “It’s not the winning...”

“...it’s the unity.” Ayfor completed the Sector motto, without turning his head.

Then the pool roof began to close, and everyone fell silent. Ayfor could hear a mechanism humming somewhere. He had never noticed it before.  As the roof inexorably closed, Ayfor felt compelled to approach the lip, but he didn’t know what to do once there. He looked around for something that would explain what was happening. The members of team 1P also approached, and Peet was close behind him.

“This is not what usually happens,” Peet said. “The dolphins should come before the roof closes, and your unit is still in the water.”

Ayfor nodded in agreement. His gaze went from the lip of one half of the pool roof to the other in turn as they moved together. In the crowd, someone said they were sure the dolphins would come, and that this must be a new game. Another suggested that Ayfor’s unit should get out, but nobody did anything.

 “They won’t have time to get out of the pool for the game before the roof closes.” Ayfor said aloud. The gathering crowd exchanged confused looks and comments. This was a very strange thing.

“What shall we do?” said Peet.

 “I will go to the nearest terminal and ask Voice,” said Ayfor, as the roof closed, seamlessly, a green field for the ball-game pitch replacing the blue of the pool.  “If they weren’t so fond of the dolphins, this would not have happened.” Ayfor reasoned.

 “I wonder why they didn’t come this time. Was there anything on your rota about this?” Peet asked. Ayfor shook his head.

“Let’s take cycles to the terminal. It’s quicker.”  Peet suggested.  Although he sensed Ayfor’s disappointment, he found these new events very interesting; Voice would explain it all, no doubt. They left the game field behind them, the crowd milling about on it and manoeuvring seating into place – surely the game would happen eventually; it was in the rota?  It remained sunny and warm.

oOo

Inside the tunnel it was almost completely black; a darkness that none of them had experienced before.  They had heard the roof closing, but before they could decide what best to do, it had shut.  By calling to each other in the dark, they gathered together, talking quietly. They did not like the darkness and it was getting colder. It was a shame about the game, and confusing about the dolphins at the same time.

In the darkness, it was hard to know exactly where sounds were coming from, and the water-filled, confined space gave a strange acoustic effect to their voices. Then Aywan called from further up the tunnel. “There is a way out up here, and there’s light too.”

“I’m not sure we should go further,” one said.

“For some reason, I don’t like being in the water now; not when I can’t see,” said another.

Then suddenly, with the sound of splashing, Aywan was back amongst them.

“I can’t see the dolphins, but at the end of the tunnel there is another pool. It’s quite small, more like a room, but the tunnel continues and there is light up there. That must be where the dolphins are.”

“Isn’t it Unit D that cares for the dolphins?” someone asked “I’ve never been to the dolphin pool, but a D unit told me that the dolphins eat fish…”

“Yes, yes” interrupted Aywan, “but we might be able to get out of that pool and we won’t miss the game.”

There was a brief silence whilst this sank in. “Shouldn’t we wait to see if the roof opens?” someone tentatively proposed.

“If I am wrong, then we can come back here, can’t we?”  Aywan countered. This decided the point.

They followed Aywan’s voice, up the tunnel where it did indeed begin to grow slightly lighter, but there came the sound of more machinery, and they stopped. Aywan was silhouetted by a faint green light behind him, “Did you hear that?” he said.  There was a sudden hissing sound, and then silence again. “Let’s keep going, we’re nearly there,” Aywan spurred them on. Then several things happened at the same time, and none of them knew where to turn.

There was a sharp clang, a much brighter green light illuminated the water and a current drew them up the tunnel. Before anyone could speak, the current grew to an irresistible force, like a piston ramming them forward and water filled the tunnel to the roof, drowning their cries of surprise.  Their bodies swirled helplessly in the next chamber, caught in the vortex that had formed, before being forced onwards.

By the time the entire volume of the swimming pool had drained through the tunnel,  only one of the seven was still alive. She didn’t know which way to swim, she only knew that she needed to breathe. Close by she saw a couple of her unit drifting about. Swimming towards them, she stared uncomprehendingly into their sightless eyes. Her smooth head bumped on a solid surface and she brought her hands up to press against the metal above her. Looking from left to right, desperately, she couldn’t fight the urge to breathe in any longer. Her lungs burned as she inhaled water and she coughed and gagged the last bubbles of air out in gulping, silent screams. A roaring sound began in her ears, purple explosions flashed in her eyes as darkness again enveloped her and she finally stopped breathing. All sound faded into nothingness; all vision to a bright spot of light which, in her last moment of existence, she thought was moving up and away from her.

oOo

Whilst the seven lifeless bodies slowly sank and gently crumpled to rest on the bottom,  Ayfor and Peet talked with Voice at a terminal.  Voice had been unaware, at first, of what had occurred at the Pool, but ultimately advised them that there was nothing to be concerned about; something unexpected had indeed occurred and units 101A had simply been cycled to Sector 2 in advance of the Cycling.

“But units are always cycled together,” said Ayfor, his confusion mounting “I will be unable to carry out the functions alone. I will have no team for the game.  We will have no chance to win.  What shall I do if I am alone?”

“Do not be troubled Ayfor,” said Voice. “Your rota will be adjusted for you tomorrow. Return to your unit quarters and rest. All will be well. Do not forget that you have been chosen for Audience.”

Over the coming days, which at first did seem much as they had always been, there were other strange things that were talked about, some of which Ayfor learned of, and some he did not.  D unit had new tasks: the dolphins did not return, so the fish was now being made into new meals, which not everyone liked. Who knew that you could eat the fish?  Who knew that if the fish were not eaten by something, a critical nutrient imbalance would result?  Voice knew this.

Someone from Z unit calculated that increased gas outputs meant that almost 500 kilograms of organic matter must have been added to the bio digester…but how?  Voice knew how, but reassured them that all was well.

What nobody in Sector 1 ever knew was that Sector 2 had lost a vent droid. It had been repurposed at the direction of Voice but had never returned from the water filtration system.  The removal of seven platinum-coated ceramic genital plates from seven bodies had taken more energy than anticipated, because tissue had fused with the ceramics. Drained of power, the droid had also died within a water duct, but the platinum had not entered the bio-digester, reasoned Voice.  Meanwhile, the tissue residues on the ceramic plates slowly putrified as bacteria grew on them, and even Voice didn’t know that, yet.

But as Ayfor waited for Audience, his work rota filled with exercise and leisure, he grew troubled. He wrestled with new questions:  How would the Unit’s functions be performed? What was his purpose now?  What were these unpleasant feelings that he could not name? It was not right that his team had been cycled without him. It was not right that their actions meant he could not play any ball game now, let alone win the tournament.  As for his decision to seek to return from Audience, if this was even possible? That now seemed irrelevant. So many things that were not right. This was a new state of being for him and it was not pleasing.

The time for Audience came and a transit pod arrived outside Ayfor’s quarters.  He climbed in, its door slid seamlessly shut and it whirred away.  Like all transit pods, they came and went via the cycling portal.  Ayfor had been born in Sector 1, and had never transited before. He didn’t know what awaited after a cycling, but older units explained that some units left and some units arrived from a different sector, and that was all there was to it.  Ayfor sat back in the seat and closed his eyes, trying to sense the direction of travel. At one point it felt as if he was moving upwards – there was a slight pressure from the seat below, but that was all. He felt himself falling asleep, which surprised him, but he couldn’t stop it, just like the start of any other sleep cycle. This is strange… I was only awoken an hour ago.

oOo

Unlike conversations with Voice during sleep, Ayfor was awakened for the Audience. He found himself in strange quarters but Voice spoke to him: “Follow the lights, Ayfor. I am waiting for you.”

Nobody had ever seen Voice; nobody that had ever returned.  In the Sector, units had no comprehension of what they were. Their gender persisted, at the genetic level, but it was erased, masked with implants and biochemicals at the physical level.  Voice was artificial, just like it’s physical presence standing before Ayfor, but to Ayfor, Voice looked like any other unit, and he had had no expectation that Voice would appear as anything else…except Voice had no tag.

“Why was I chosen for Audience,” Ayfor asked.

“Once, when we talked, during your sleep, I asked you why you liked the ball game.”

“Yes, I recall,” said Ayfor.

“You replied that you didn’t know why, but winning made you feel good, that winning was the best feeling, and losing was the worst feeling.”

“That is right,” said Ayfor.

“And then you said this:  “But the very best thing would be if I scored all of the goals and my team won the game…because that would mean that I had won the game all on my own.  It would mean that I was better than everyone…that I was the best.”   

Ayfor nodded, as he recalled.

“Those who are chosen for Audience are usually chosen because they are the best at something.  But that is not why you have been chosen.  Sometimes just being the best is not enough. The desire to be the best  is even more important.”

“And what happens now?” asked Ayfor.

“The Chosen get to choose.  So you may ask me anything you wish, and I will tell you, if it is within my understanding.  And then you choose.”

“I don’t understand,” said Ayfor after a while. “I didn’t expect that there would be a choice…I thought that Audience was just…like being cycled… but in a different way, because nobody ever returns.”

“In a way, that is right. But the Chosen are given an understanding, and with that  understanding, they never choose to return.”

“But why?”

“Let me show you. Then you will understand, and we shall see what you decide.”

Voice ushered Ayfor towards the far wall of the chamber. The lights dimmed, and suddenly the wall shimmered and became transparent, allowing them to see what was beyond.

“What you see before you is the surface of a planet called Mars, Ayfor. Those round structures that you can see are the Sectors.  You have lived in one of those since you were born, and one day, when you are cycled for perhaps the third or fourth time, you will go to sleep and never awaken, and you will never know why.  You may choose to go back there, to live as you have before, or, you may stay with us, here, far above the surface of the planet, where you will be prepared for the journey.” 

The view slowly changed and the planet’s surface rotated away, revealing nothing but blackness.”

“A journey where?” asked Ayfor, staring into the darkness. A small blue circle, dotted with white specks came into view.

“The journey to this planet. The journey back to Earth.”

Prompt Quest #2