

EDEN

–

A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE

FOR FREE, FOREVER

–

A fairy story by Aalam WASSEF

Short Books

To Filomena & Cred Dewat G. Jabkashav

I

As the shuttle's doors closed with a quiet, lazy hiss, a young man from Julia's building ran from exit to exit, throwing his tall, scraggly body at everyone, screaming and punching anything his knuckles could reach. Then he collapsed in the middle of the aisle. Passengers told him, 'Shush now. Eden will be different.' None of them had ever been to Eden. They really had no idea.

The shuttle left Merryland.

Lula kneeled on Julia's lap, her hands pressed against the window. She didn't think much of the landscape, as there was nothing much to see. Right and left, commanding fences lined the road. Lula couldn't imagine that beyond them began a brand new world that neither she nor her mother had ever seen. She rubbed her droopy eyes and fell asleep.

Far into the woods, there were tall, luxurious mansions with an ethereal quality that puzzled the eye. Looked at from any angle, the landscape seemed to run through them, making them almost invisible. Cumbrous data centers that had metastasized across the Federation were all gone. The beginning of the story of how Peterson Corp. transformed into Avalon, expanding its hold over the Federation. In his early days, Paul Peterson had been known as the shrink, the man who shrunk data farms to the size of a brain. The day Lula turned two, Avalon had made an announcement that had sent shockwaves in every rowdy encampment that sprawled in and out of the cities. Peterson had said, 'For as long as one can remember, every government has promised full employment to its citizens, but in this Federation we shall not lie to each other. There will be no full employment ever again. The Federation's coffers are empty. Government has resigned. Time has come for corporations to stand up. Those who have must give to those who don't. That is the plain truth.'

*

Most passengers in the shuttle were asleep, their eyes quivering like those of men and women exhausted by years of hardship. As instructed, no one carried luggage, a satchel or a purse. Their skin was pale and dry and their loaned clothes smelt of generic cleansing powders and sweat.

Julia hadn't always been a dud, redundant like, now, eighty-five percent of the population. She had been a notorious judge and her son Hiroji had been to schools that the current fifteen percenters could still afford. He was thirteen and remembered their life before Merryland, a remote, residential complex, ten times the size of the Federation's largest city. Without him, Julia would have killed herself. Although buildings in Merryland were as colorful as a rainbow, although flower petals often covered the Plazas, no one ever called Merryland by its name. They called it Bury Land. However morbid the circumstances, Hiroji had made his sister laugh for hours on end, telling her stories about all the things he remembered, loved and missed: sneakers, fruit, parks, trees, vanilla popcorn, games, cartoons, classrooms or even forks and knives.

Lula marveled at Hiroji's wild imagination because there were no such things in Merryland.

The shuttle took a sharp curve. Julia woke up agitated and confused. She had bitten her tongue in her sleep until it had bled. She wiped her watery eyes and leaned her head against the window. She sighed intermittently, her breath misting the window in large circles each time she did. She pointed her index finger and pressed it firmly against the glass. She slowly wrote a name, Mia. Then she wiped it unhurriedly, letter by letter, her nostrils swelling with suppressed anger and remorse.

Mia was a young producer who worked for You & You, an Avalon media network. Days before, she had knocked on Julia's door and had jovially said, 'We're interviewing you guys in Merryland before you go to Eden. May I come in?' Without moving a muscle in her face, Julia had murmured, 'Tell whoever sent you that there is no such thing as a merry land.' Mia had apologized, jabbering, 'But now Avalon is giving you Eden. It's going to be —.' Unable to form a sentence, she panted and paused, then she continued quietly, 'I know who you are. Peterson told me. He really wants you to be our guest star on Eden Now. Please JJ. We'll fly you to the city.'

Flying to the city didn't matter to Julia, but when she heard JJ, she turned pale. Through her wet eyes, she had quietly asked, 'It's Peterson who told you to call me JJ, isn't it?' Mia had nodded yes, clearing her throat noisily and repeatedly. Staring at the floor with a sad half-smile, Julia had murmured, 'Tell that bastard Paul the shrink that I'm coming.' She was convinced that Peterson was indulging in personal revenge over JJ, Justice Julia, the once-mighty judge who had consistently opposed him, until Avalon's Lexy OS made judges by and large redundant.

Night fell as the shuttle descended into a long, deep tunnel whose descent was so subtle that no one realized that they sat three hundred feet below the road. When it slowed down and finally stopped, a voice said, 'You have reached Eden 55. Please use front and middle exits. Thank you.'

Julia woke her son Hiroji and carried Lula over her shoulder. The voice said, 'Avalon wishes you a beautiful future. For free. Forever.' Hiroji stretched his legs and peered through the window. He stared at a bell-shaped opening on the right side of the road and asked, 'Mom, is that it?'

Drawn by light seeping through the gate, passengers followed curvy, dashed lines, flashing beneath their feet. No one spoke or even breathed. They walked until an echoing bell chimed twice, instructing them to stop, 'Friends, please hold on. Welcome to Eden 55. Friends, please hold on now.'

The floor began to rise, slowly ascending through a blinding haze of light. Julia whispered, 'Friends', and bitterly shook her head.

The platform kept ascending as people shuffled to the center, pressing their bodies against each other. Past the blinding haze, the air felt cooler and when Hiroji looked up, a full moon shone above his head. The voice said one last time, 'Avalon wishes you a beautiful future. For free. Forever.' The platform snapped into its final position. All passengers stood stock-still and their pupils slowly dilated as they adapted to the darkness. A woman cried, 'Look. There. Behind you.' People's names hovered and glowed above the grass, like fireflies waiting to guide their masters. A woman began to read people's names that seemed to form a cloud of bouncing holograms, 'Abdalla, your name is over here.' Another one shouted, 'Huapaya-Hills, you guys are over here.' Hiroji pulled his mother's dress and said, 'Mom, come on. That's us.'

The pack broke into smaller groups and each followed their luminous guides.

Bracing Lula against her chest, Julia walked steadily, staring at dotted lights that shimmered in the distance. She paused and sighed repeatedly, bending her knees each time she tucked Lula's chin over her shoulder. They walked the half mile to the village where middle-aged Edeners stood on their doorstep, lining a pathway covered in stones and puffy grass. Established Edeners greeted them warmly, but quietly, mindful of what Merryland did to people.

Hiroji ran ahead, ignoring the glowing guides. He waited and, as soon as he caught sight of his mother, he hollered, 'Mom, ours is right here.' Their new home was the last in a long row of bungalows and Hiroji pointed and hollered again, 'Look how big.'

Bungalows reminded Julia of Belvedere Corp., a claimant in a case who sold expensive tree houses made of titanium, glass and teak. She wondered where she was. She had caught glimpses of trees, firs, a merry-go-round, slopes, backyards, front yards, someone holding a mug that said Mug, translucent sliding panels, the name Manuel Cariño and a puppy Beagle running without a collar or a leash. She was struck to see Redundants now standing proud and dignified.

Julia looked at their bungalow. Theirs too had a translucent door with their names glowing at the top.

Julia Hills

Hiroji Huapaya-Hills

Lula Huapaya-Hills

Their front yard was a rectangular patch of grass, as wide as the bungalow and deep enough for the children to play. It had no fences, but was outlined by a row of dark, polished stones, firmly planted into the ground.

Exhausted, with loaned sandals cutting into her blisters, Julia bent over and sat Lula on the grass. The child stared at her mother as she walked away and was startled by the front door sliding itself open. Hiroji looked inside and gaped at what he saw. He held Julia's hand and said, 'Come on, mom. It's for us. It's beautiful.' They stepped inside together, forgetting Lula who wailed as loud as she could. Lula had never seen a village. She had never felt anything as tender as grass.

Her mother carried her inside and said, 'Enough now, Lula. It's just new to you', and Hiroji came holding a tall glass of water. Julia murmured, 'Where did you get that?' Hiroji pointed at the bar behind him and waited. He smiled with anticipation. He thought that she would turn around and that she would notice small details and that each detail would bring back old, soothing memories. He expected that she would sigh with relief and flick his hair or pinch his cheek the way she used to before Merryland.

Julia sat on a couch, carved out in a half circle,covered in plush. She glanced around the room and realized that their bungalow was in many ways similar to the Life Pad she could once afford. She gazed at the bar, the table, the water tank and the portholes. She fixed her attention on sensors hidden here and there and thought that Resident Experience was identical to the one they had had before: everything would click and open, close and hiss, on a swipe, a finger flick or a gaze. Impassive, she turned to Lula and watched her drink in gulps while Hiroji, defeated by his mother's indifference, stared at the milky floor.

Facing the front door, there were three sliding doors, all equal in size. Lula's room was on the left, with her name on it, and Julia's was in the middle. Hiroji shuffled to his room with a somber look on his face and waited for his door to slide open.

In his room, there was a large, round bed. Facing him, there was another door leading to an adjoining meroom, a room common to all Life Pads. Disappointed, he whispered, 'Is that really all there is?'

Hiroji sat on the bed and sighed, knocking his knees against each other. He stared at his itchy, rubber sandals and when he looked up, he squinted at his reflection and gasped: in front of him stood the largest I.M. he had ever seen. He thought that Immersive Mirrors were never that big and that if he hadn't noticed it before, it was because it covered the wall from side to side and from top to bottom.

Hiroji rolled on the bed, chuckling and smacking his lap for having been so, so stupid. He shouted, 'Play', and the I.M. came to life, simultaneously shutting his door and dimming the lights. Hiroji shrieked and whooped when the Mirror displayed his old scores and bonuses. Zonkabot, his favorite hero, was in the exact, exact position he had left him four years earlier, bouncing and waiting to complete mission. He shouted again, 'Resume game.'

Julia undressed Lula and placed her clothes in the meroom's basket. She turned around and said, 'Peejays, please.' A virtual closet appeared and she swiped through accessories, cosmetics, clothes and nightwear, then she flipped through pajama sets until she found a nightie which had a blue bear on it. She leaned against the wall and waited for a drawer to rise from the ground. When it rose seconds later, she pulled the nightie off the hanger and dressed her daughter hastily. Lula whimpered each time her mother's fingers touched her body because Merry Soaps had left them chapped and dry.

Opening Hiroji's door, Julia paused the game he played and whispered, 'Go to bed.'

Hiroji looked up and said, 'I'll get my peejays, mom. I remember how, you know?' Julia stood silent. She stared at the young boy who, after years of deprivation, was about to sleep in a soft, comfortable bed. He stared back and waited. He expected an answer or a complicit smile, but his mother looked the other way and left the room.

II

'Mama. What's that?'

'What?'

'That.'

'It's called a pillow.'

Frazzled by a night of distressing nightmares, Julia groaned at Lula that she needed more sleep. Lula lay quietly on Julia's bed and waited. She counted to three several times in her head, then she gently pulled her mother's sleeve and murmured, 'I don't know how to use the new toilet, mama.' Julia rolled over lazily and walked her to her bedroom. She opened the meroom's door and sat her on a gleaming KiddyClean. Lula had never seen anything like it and playfully slipped her arms in the seat's Beauty Armrests. Her mother suddenly stamped her foot, surprising her with an unusual croaky growl, 'That's for filing your nails.' Lula pulled her arms at once and burst into tears. Hiroji came running in and looked at his mother from the corner of his eye. She was sitting hunched on the bed with Lula standing by her side, weeping and clasping the sheets with her little fingers. Hiroji stretched his arms and whispered tenderly, 'Come my Loolybubbaloo.' She trotted behind him, sniffling and wiping her nose.

*

There were three stools around the lounge table, cylinders stemming from the ground, topped with fitted, steel grey cushions. As soon as Julia sat on the lowest stool, obviously meant to be hers, the table lit up and displayed an alphabetical list of morning food and beverages. She ignored anything Lula had never eaten, which meant everything besides the tasteless, processed yogurts and supplement pills that Avalon dispensed to Merryland. She said, 'Three plain yogurts, thank you.'

The table set itself in motion, instantly delivering three verrines with shiny spoons and folded napkins. Julia ate hers while the children played and, by force of habit, she pushed two spoonfuls down her throat and swallowed them at once. When she realized that the yogurt was thick, unctuous and tart, she began to eat slowly, pressing each lump against her palate until it dissolved.

Irked by the sound of a faint, but ceaseless snore, Julia opened the front door and found a little puppy sleeping on her doorstep. Startled, the puppy got up clumsily and began to walk away. A quick glance over his shoulder made him hesitate and then he came back bobbing his head. She asked quietly, 'And what are you all about? Free cuteness?'

Hiroji was inside, dazzling Lula with every feature in the pad. He showed her the closet and Lula shrieked at dresses revolving in a hologram. He got his nails sense-filed and Lula tried it too. He jumped to catch the FaceMaker and placed it over her head. He said, 'It's for makeup and haircuts, but only mom can make it work.' He showed her the shower and Lula screamed when icy drops sprinkled her toes. He pretended to be feeling blue and said, 'Oh MotiPal, I am so sad today.' MotiPal's quavering voice filled the meroom and told him, 'Relief is coming, Master Hiroji.' Hiroji pressed his head against the blue MotiPad that was flashing and giggled when tingling sensations ran through his brain. He said, 'Thanks MotiPal, never felt better.' Lula asked, 'What are these one's for?' Hiroji scratched his head and replied, 'The red pad is for when you're angry, the yellow one is — I forgot.'

Lula gave into Hiroji's world without a tear and when they entered the lounge, they found Julia sitting at the table with a guilty look on her face. She had succumbed to poached eggs, fish bars, grilled vegetables, granola, ginger-carrot juice, milk, jam, butter and toast. Hiroji gawked at his mother and expected Lula to cry. He pointed his finger at the table and said, 'Look, Lula. It's Hiroji's Magic Breakfast. Remember that fun story?' Lula shook her head and wrapped her arms around his waist.

*

Julia ate little. Hiroji ate as much as he could and minutes later, he threw up in secret. Lula had a small taste of everything and gave a name to all things new. Toast tickled and so did ginger-carrot juice. Poached eggs were yogurty, and yogurt was wrong.

After breakfast, Lula watched the table hissing and wheezing, taking back every plate, basket, fork, knife and spoon.

Standing in her pajamas, Julia gazed through the porthole. It was bigger than the one she had in Hive 11, the legal Hive where she had lived. She thought of Masashi, her ex-companion, and remembered how he used to smash portholes and water tanks each time they had a fight. She had filed a restraining order against him, claiming that he was threatening, short tempered and insecure. The day he left, she had told him that she never loved him and that she never would.

*

Hiroji played games with Lula on his lap until Julia appeared, startling them both. She looked the way she did before the streets and Merryland. She smelt of cream and wore a new, sleeveless, ivory dress with stylish sunglasses hanging on a scooped neckline. Her hair was shiny and tied in a bun with airy locks falling down her neck. She sighed, 'Come on. Let's —.' Alarmed by an unfamiliar sound, Julia walked precipitously to her bedroom followed by the children. She turned to Hiroji and said, 'It's Mia calling. Sit on the bed and, please, not a word.'

Mia appeared in the Mirror. She was in a Cabzy, gliding through the city.

'Hi Hiroji, hi Lula, hi Julia.'

'Hello, Mia. How did you find us?'

'Facebase Eden. It was launched this morning.'

'Oh. That's good to know. So I can call people too?'

'Sure. You can call anyone as long as they've called you.'

'Oh. Isn't that a bit —'

'I'm sorry, Julia?'

'No — nothing. Never mind.'

'So — you guys have good weather?'

'The weather. Of course. The weather. Mia?'

'Oh that's so awesome, Julia. You guys are so lucky.'

'Mia —'

'That must be so, so exciting.'

'Mia — please. Let's talk later.'

'No worries, Julia. You guys have super fun now.'

Julia ended the call at once. She covered her face with her hands and let them slide until they dropped on her lap. She turned to Hiroji and whispered, 'Give me a moment. I just need a moment.' She shut her door and walked around the bed then she went to the meroom. She splashed cold water on her face and, clenching her jaw, she rested her hands on each side of the sink.

III

Mia walked steadily through hi-cor, a corridor reserved for Avalon's top ranking executives.

One side of hi-cor overlooked the city's forty-four Hives, most of which were being remodelled by Avalon-Masons. Buildings varied in subtle progressions with every cambered district fading into the next, like lazy waves on a quiet morning.

On the other side of hi-cor, a row of bell-shaped doors featured the names of executives no one ever saw because they were said to be working from home. Their names hung modest and bare, reminding Mia of Avalon's selfless commitment to the Federation.

Maggy Beistegui

Caredom

Leah Ahmad

Sharedom

Victor Passang

Realizement

Mary Konan

Fulfinity

Shin-Shen Korkut

Interlove

Mia was twenty-two and top of her class in storytelling. She was slim, with hazel eyes and curly blond hair. She wore no makeup or jewelry besides a plum butterfly hair clip and a wrist-pearl. Outlining her chest, a white t-shirt was tucked in the waistline of a navy portfolio skirt and purple Ballerinas wrapped her feet.

Smiling, Mia boarded Elevator Bee. She faced the sensors and asked, 'Floor one eleven, please. Thank you so much.' At Avalon, kindness was paramount and was always rewarded ten credit points at a time. Mia happened to be considerate and warm in all circumstances.

Elevator Bee whizzed her to the last floor while she rested her back on an oval pad. Mia stepped into Stratos, a vast platform topped by a globe of glass. She walked to a comfortable ballpod baring her initials, M D-J, Mia Duncan-James, then she sat down. Pulling her legs to one side of her body, she played a message from Julia.

'Hello, Mia. Here I am, realizing that you are, indeed, the only person I can call. I'll be honest with you. I'm finding Eden quite unsettling, although I have to admit that people around me seem to be finding solace. Mia — I need to ask you about a few things. Where are we? Why don't we have clocks? I was also surprised to recover my private data, you know my Memories, my Albums and even my court sessions, they're all there, in the Mirror. I didn't expect that. I don't know if I —'

Mia paused the message and stared at Julia's face. She thought that she looked different. She gazed at her hair that was carefully brushed to the back, held by an eight-shaped pair of maroon sunglasses that Avalon's Eden had provided to her for free, like everything else she was wearing. She arched her eyebrows quizzically, noting that Julia's hair also fell soft and shiny over her shoulders and that it was naturally highlighted by strands of white and silver. She felt that her tone was less despondent than the last time they had spoken. She thought it was confident and convinced herself that it had even been fruity at times, especially when Julia said Memories and Albums, with unusual inflections.

Blowing air through her lips in a sudden, sarcastic huff, she turned messages off. She thought that Julia had everything a dud could possibly need: comfort, safety, accessories. She circled Julia's sunglasses and saved them to her wishlist. Tittering, she whispered, 'I'm circling the shades of a dud. If that isn't —.' Mia suddenly covered her mouth and cleared her throat repeatedly, a superstitious ritual she performed each time she failed to live up to the Federation's standards of caredom and empathy. She believed that her scrape-throat routine disintegrated every evil or envious thought for which she could later be punished. She had also devised a secret formula that warded off bad luck as much as it appeased her chronicle fear of becoming redundant herself.

Swallowing noisily, Mia whispered, 'Forever eliminated.' Finally comforted, she turned on her dashboard and playfully strummed her fingers. She had never been in charge of anything as big as Eden Now. The show was programmed to last for years, featuring Edeners evolving in their new habitat, enjoying a life of outstanding comfort. A lot was at stake for her, for Avalon and for Paul Peterson, Avalon's founder.

Mia trusted Peterson to be a virtuous man. She hearted that he took upon himself to be fair, considerate, pragmatic and open to criticism. Mia hadn't shied away from expressing serious concerns regarding Eden.

When news about Eden spread across the Federation, Mia had been an undergraduate. She had been worried about her future because, when the time came, she could lose her job and be sent to Eden too. She needed to know what Eden really meant and how it really worked, so she had launched Peterson We Need to Know, a campaign that had gone viral among people her age. The campaign had pugnaciously asked, 'Luxurious villages for free and forever. Great. But how?'

Peterson had hired her. He had said, 'Our Federation thrives, thanks to people like you.' He had given her a show, Eden Now, and had asked her to help him with the most important speech he would ever deliver to the Federation.

Mia had insisted that there had to be transparency and accountability. She had said, 'Paul, we need checks and balances', and told him that she dreamt of a network that would let her check on every Edener, 24/7 and all year round. She had added, 'I'll believe in their safety and happiness only when I see it.'

Peterson had given her a sneak peek at Facebase Eden, a new platform he was just about to launch. The platform mirrored Mia's expectations exactly and she had been swept off her feet. She had cried and, on the same day, she had gathered her classmates and written Peterson's speech.

Eden is a milestone in the history of mankind, yet in our hearts, there is anguish, there is fear. We want Eden, we dream of it, but we seek reassurance, guarantees, oversight and control. So better than judges, observers, reporters, watchdogs and whistleblowers, Facebase Eden will empower every citizen to be their own judge. We will check on each other, but we'll also be friends. Yes. Facebase Eden is more than oversight. Facebase Eden is more than control. It is about togetherness. Our togetherness.

*

Mia's wrist-pearl sent vibrations up her arm, reminding her that a Cabzy was about to arrive. She took her purse and her sunglasses and rushed down to loblev, Avalon's lobby.

Zipping through the city, Mia gazed at Avalon-Masons revamping Hive 11. Their purple cranes printed Platinum-grade Life Pads, floor after floor, day in, day out. Mia thought that if she made it to Network Manager, she could live in one of those too and never, ever leave home. She smiled, trying to conceal a guilty look on her face because she thought that she was being a bit greedy. She quickly admitted that she liked her home too and whispered, 'Forever eliminated.'

Since working for You & You, HR granted Mia a Life Pad located in Hive 44, a progressive neighborhood coveted by teenagers and Walk In activists. Her pad was on a rooftop, with direct access to a pool and a Pursuader, a gym that awarded her Avalon credits each time she worked out to maintain her physical health.

The day Mia moved in, she walked in, pledging to own nothing more than a butterfly hair clip. Instead, she subscribed to Seamless Supreme, a comprehensive home delivery service, seamlessly integrated to all Silver-Grade Life Pads: in the morning, Mia found an outfit waiting by the bed and in the evening, a nightgown; at lunchtime she received lunch; on her birthday, a customized cake bore her name and on Tuesdays, a new theme decorated the lounge.

Mia slid her door open, playfully covering and uncovering her eyes. She shrieked, 'I love it', and turned around herself. The new theme of the week was Persian Mish Mash, one of her favorites as she had a strong preference for adventurous accessories. She noticed a fluffy SaniCat and asked, 'What's your name, you little one?' She bent her knees and patting it, she said, 'I'm going to miss you when you're gone.'

Like fellow-Walk In activists, Mia preferred predictions to placing orders herself because Seamless Supreme was simultaneously mindful of product provenance, fairness, climate control, hydroptimization and animal rights; because choosing, wanting and desiring had enslaved previous generations and because educated, ethical predictions guaranteed her freedom and championed panawaredom, a multifaceted awareness of the common good. She admitted that she could never reach such levels of panawaredom, no matter how hard she tried.

Mia sat on the couch and gazed at personal messages crawling across the room. She smiled at suave innuendos from Bunnycrunch and others from Pepperbeads and Lunabow, then she lay down and let fresh air run up and down her body.

There was a new message from Julia. Mia sighed. She grumbled and dropped her head forward, then she stretched her neck to peek at flashing messages from partners she didn't know. She thought, 'Uh-oh, Puffypex and Makalassy are up for Intm8.' She wrinkled her nose and murmured, 'OK, just one before lunch', then she checked her Wallit for credits and grumbled louder than before. She tilted her head and sung, 'Ley-la', and waited for a jolly voice to respond.

'Hey, Mia. You're out of credits, correct?'

'Yeah. A bit short — Leyla, if I spend time on Facebase Eden do I —'

'Yes, you'll earn 5 credits for every conversation with an Edener.'

'Yes I know that, but can I spend them on —'

'Yes you can.'

'I meant on —'

'On Intm8. Yes you can.'

'Thanks, Leyla.'

'You're welcome, Mia. Would you care to rate me today?'

'You're awesome, Leyla. Always ahead of —'

'I should help you with lunch, correct?'

'Yeah, actually — I'm kind of torn between —'

'Ginger-Carrot Soup and Veggie Keen-Wa Club.'

'Yeah — I guess I'll have the —'

'It's on its way.'

'I love you, Leyla.'

'Uh-huh.'

IV

Turning to the children, Julia opened the front door and said, 'The village is asleep. Please be quiet.' They stepped barefoot on the grass covered in morning dew and Lula shrieked and jiggled as though treading on embers.

To the right of their bungalow, the pathway led to a stretch of mowed grass, reaching as far as the horizon. To the left, two rows of bungalows faced each other, similar to Julia's.

Julia squeezed Hiroji's shoulder and whispered, 'Have you noticed?' Hiroji looked all around him. He crossed his arms and frowned while Lula mirrored every move he made. His mother said, 'Shush. Listen', then she whispered again, 'No birds, no bees, no flies.' She got down on her knees and ruffled the grass, 'No bugs.'

Next door, a neighbor appeared on his doorstep and waved hello. Through a fixed smile, showing his large and crooked teeth, he said, 'You must be Julia. I meant to show you around yesterday, but anyway, I'm Yanis. Just call me Yan.'

Julia got up. Pressing her hands on Hiroji's shoulders, she said, 'This is my son Hiroji and this is Lula, his little sister.' Yan took Lula by the hand and pinched Hiroji's chin.

Yan was a tall, strong man in his late forties. Each time he spoke, Lula stared at his dark, wrinkled eyes and his grey, curly hair. She was afraid of him and pulled her hand several times, but he held it tight. His broad face was covered in stubble and scars were scattered along both his arms. Julia pointed at his forearms and he said, 'Five plus three.' In dud lingo, that meant five years on the streets and three years in Bury Land. Julia replied, 'One plus three.' Hiroji interrupted, 'The merry-go-round, does it work?' Yan responded in a deep voice, 'One thing at a time. I'll take you there later.'

*

The more Julia looked at the houses, the more she realized that they were all different. Little details: an opening here, cladding there, darker shades of timber or fading hues of rust and lemon green. One was taller than all others, and some were simple, milky cubes of glass.

Far ahead, Hiroji spotted a swimming pool that he hadn't noticed the day before, a borderless turquoise mirror, reflecting the clouds. He sighed, 'Uff — It's like a giant, humongous lake.' Both children scooted ahead and, before Julia could urge them to be careful, Yan said complacently, 'Children can't drown.' Julia shrugged her shoulders and muttered to herself, 'Silly me. Who drowns in bloody Eden —.' Turning to Yan, she spoke in a low voice, just above a whisper.

'How long have you been here, Yanis?'

'Two days? Three days? Ha. I already lost count.'

'You and a few people I've seen so far, you seem to have been here longer.'

'Oh but that's only because we heal fast.'

'Heal? The bloody Healers are here too?'

'This isn't Bury Land. Relax, Julia.'

'Then what do you call healing?'

'Look around you. Does it even look like Bury Land? Are you missing anything?'

'You never ask yourself how Avalon is going to keep paying for all of this?'

'They took our jobs. They sent us to Bury Land. The old man, he's making amends.'

'Peterson? Amends? He never spent a cent unless it —'

'Oh, Julia — come on now. Take it easy.'

'You wait and see.'

The children came running back, panting and Lula asked, 'Can we go to the maryggelround?'

*

The merry-go-round was ancient but all new to the children. Yan sat Lula in an aeroplane that she called a blobby and Hiroji ran to the red shuttle with a funny ladder. Yan jumped off the platform and pressed his palm against a dashboard planted in the ground. A bouncy tune began to play and he pointed at the children.

'That's what I used to do.'

'You were a park attendant?'

'Oh not a park attendant, no. I was a firefighter.'

'So — is that it? Houses, a merry-go-round and a pool?'

'I'll tell you more soon.'

Smiling with deadpan eyes, Yan pulled a soft, transparent pebble out of his pocket. When he tucked it in his ear, it became harder and began to glow. His pupils dilated and it seemed to Julia that he wasn't looking at her, but through her.

'I see you, Julia, but I see more. I hear more.'

Julia covered her chest and asked, 'What can you see?'

Yan flicked the rubbery pebble out of his ear and walked a few steps. Giving his back to Julia, he said, 'If most people are asleep, it's because they spend all night travelling.' He turned around and, seeing Julia's puzzled reaction, he smiled another fixed smile.

Julia scanned his face the way she used to scan defendants in court: Yan was a smug narcissist who savored being looked at without looking back; he was a commander who took pleasure at exercising his power over others, I won't show you this now, I'll explain that to you later, and because tremors shook his upper lip each time he forced a smile, she was convinced that he had something ugly to hide.

Walking home, Hiroji and Yan waved at sleepy neighbors standing in their pajamas, shielding their eyes from the morning sun. Before they parted, Julia asked one last time about the pebble. As he began to turn away, Yan said, 'You'll find three of them stashed in the bar. Just say Amity. You'll see.'

V

Hiroji stood by the door, waiting for newcomers to arrive. He longed to have a friend and hoped to meet a boy about his age. He waited, pulling the strings of his shorts and watched Edeners walking up and down the pathway with Amity devices glowing in their ears. Some kneeled to look at something that only they could see, while others jumped to catch something that those standing by couldn't see either — a butterfly, a hidden map or maybe shiny tokens, depending on the game they played.

Hiroji laughed, but admitted that he looked the same when he was all amitized. He said that, with an Amity in his ear, Eden was boundless. He could explore the red lands of Australia by saying its name. He could hide in the shadows of living dinosaurs and revive every species that had long become extinct. Under the scorching sun of Eden 55, he could dig his heels in the powdery snows of Siberia. He could walk on Mars and stand on asteroids orbiting the sun.

Earlier that day, he had been to School Eden, an Amity-maze that Avalon Experiential had designed for children his age. At school, Hiroji had walked the muddy streets of an emulated Amsterdam and had sat by the side of a shoemaker's son. He had witnessed crucifixions in Judea where weeping mothers fell on their knees, his eyes filling with tears when they begged for mercy that centurions denied. Swimming in Eden's pool, he had seen a mother whale giving birth and when the baby came out, other whales ushered it to the surface. The mother whale had stayed behind and looked at him with her giant, tired eyes.

*

Hiroji was anxious. He went inside looking for a clock then went back outside remembering that there were none. Yan told him that newcomers arrived at sunset, but the sun had already set.

Yan seemed to know everything about Eden 55. He had counted every pad and had memorized every name. He knew who got up late and who turned in early. He boasted that he knew their stories and whispered secrets in Hiroji's ear when they sat by the pool. Hiroji laughed because he thought the stories were so bizarre that they were all made up. He said, 'I tell stories too you know, I can tell.'

Julia walked around the house, restless, going in and out of every room. She stepped outside and bumped into Hiroji, nearly knocking him over, then she eased herself down onto the grass.

'Talk to me, Hiroji. How was your first day at School Eden?'

'It's so much better than city schools.'

'I wasn't fond of your city schools to begin with. Anyhow. Tell me. How is it better?'

'It's experiential. I know more than I actually saw.'

'Explain.'

'I saw a Beluga whale giving birth.'

'So?'

'Well they never said that it was a Beluga whale. I just saw a whale. They never said that other whales were protective midwives, but now I know they were.'

'You might have learned that before. Dad had bought you a —´

'Never heard the word Beluga in my life. I also know that whales echolocate. I actually know pretty much everything about whales, about Holland, Dutch masters, the Roman empire, christianity —'

'Hiroji —'

'What? It's awesome.'

'It's awesome? Do you know what they're doing to your brain?

'They're teaching it.'

'They're teaching — it? Is there an it or is there a young boy called Hiroji?

'Mom it's —'

'Enough. When they force-feed your brain cells with data, do you call that experiential? Is that what you call an experience? There. Look.'

'Aww, mom — why did you have to pinch me?'

'Now you know what an experience feels like. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to hurt you.'

'It's OK, mom, it didn't really hurt.'

'Hiro I want you to be careful at all times. And don't ever speak to Yan. Do you hear me? All of this, all around you, it's a bloody sham. So many lies, Hiroji.'

Julia turned around and saw Edeners, jumping and kneeling behind her, bewitched by their virtual adventures. Irritated, she sighed and went back inside.

Hiroji lay on the grass, tearing stalks and throwing them away. He had more on his mind. Yan had told him about the hunt, a treasure hunt. He thought that was a true story because other neighbors had told him about it too. They said that it had been scary, but that all had ended well.

*

Newcomers were finally marching in. Hiroji ran barefoot down the pathway. At the merry-go-round, he hollered and waved at Yan. Remembering that he should keep away from him, he suddenly tripped and fell on his face.

Hiroji lay on the ground, clenching his teeth. His knees were grazed and his ankle was sprained. Yan squatted by Hiroji's side and growled, 'Omar, over here, quick.' He carried Hiroji to D2, followed by a short, bony man with a shaved head, bushy eyebrows and deep set blue eyes.

Like in every Eden, Eden 55 had three dispensaries, D1, D2 and S, white cubes that overlooked the merry-go-round. The village also had twelve doctors who wore blue pins on their chest. They were simple Edeners and had come from Merryland too. The day they had arrived, they found a blue pin attached to a small card bearing Peterson's signature. The card said, 'I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath.' Redundant physicians recognized the oath that doctors used to take in the past. Thrilled, they wore the pins, immediately understanding that they were being given their jobs back.

Omar opened D2 and wiped his hands clean while Yan sat Hiroji on a rectangular bed in the middle of the cube. Omar took a quick look at Hiroji's ankle and hummed a brief, reassuring sound. He walked to the back of the room and asked quietly, 'Ice Patch, please.' Hiroji turned around and watched him pulling a blue, rubber patch from a slit in the wall. He said, 'I always wondered about these white cubes. Why is the third cube called S and not D3?' Omar shrugged his shoulders and sprayed minor scratches Hiroji had on his knees. He pressed the cold patch on his ankle until it stuck, then he rested his hand over Hiroji's shoulder and whispered in his ear, 'My pin won't open cube S.' Pointing his chin to Yan, he whispered lower than before, 'And this guy who knows everything, he says that he doesn't know either.'

Hiroji left D2, limping amidst newcomers, disappointed that they seemed to be just a bunch of sad, old people.

*

Julia stood in her bedroom and stared at her own reflection. Her Memories and her Albums were all there, in the Mirror, organized, unscathed and, she thought, unforgiving. She turned on the Mirror and lay on her back, then she swiped through memory-flicks that were displayed in chronological order, from 2041 to 2058. She chose one at random and watched.

She saw herself standing next to Masashi who held Hiroji in his arms. It was Hiroji's second birthday. He was laughing, grunting and patting his father's cheeks with the tip of his fingers. She whispered, 'I looked so young.' She caught her hand stroking Masashi's hair and murmured, 'Maybe I loved him after all.'

She closed her eyes and listened to crispy whispers, chuckles and crackles. They lasted for a few minutes, then the room faded to black. Julia kept quiet and tucked a pillow under her head. She took a deep breath and said, 'Play, Feb. 2057.'

She gazed at the vintage furniture decorating her last pad in Hive 11, then she set her eyes on Lula. There she was at nine months old, crying in her chair. Julia noticed that a large photograph was missing and so was a rug. Then she remembered that Masashi had already left by then and that she had just become redundant. She watched Lula choking and kicking her chair until her porridge fell on the floor. She heard herself shouting and yelling louder than Lula did.

She barked, 'Off', and the Mirror faded to black.

Julia leaned forward on her knees and arched her back until her forehead touched the sheets. She hated being reminded of the past as much as she feared the present. Realizing that after three years in Merryland she had become Avalon's jailbird once again, Julia felt asphyxiated and wanted out. She rocked her body and reached for a loud, hoarse cry.

VI

Something was wrong. Mia was locked out of the system. She swiped her dashboard in all directions and thought, 'That's what happens to duds. Please. Not me. Please. Not Eden.' She pressed her palm against the glass and the dashboard played an alarming sound that she had never heard before. It said, 'Good morning Mia Duncan-James, please scan your iris after the hum.' Mia sat up in haste and clenched her knees together when the voice said good morning Mia Duncan-James instead of the friendlier, hi, Mia. She whispered to herself, 'Mia, what have you done —.'

Mia scanned her iris and did scrape-throat as hard as she could. Her dashboard rebooted and the Federation's anthem began to play. She mumbled along, then she sang louder and louder, smiling at every sensor in Stratos.

If we are here, I say

We are not here to stay

To you I give my trust

Till I am turned to dust

So let us sing and play

Each and every day

Mia was back into the system and everything seemed to be normal except that her messages were gone. She said, 'Messages. Of course: Julia. I should have replied to her message immediately and I should never have called her a dud.' Mia looked at the sensors and said, 'I was selfish and condescending. I am deeply, deeply sorry.' She opened Facebase Eden and left a message for Julia.

'Julia, I owe you an apology. I'm really sorry for all the hard times you've been through, I really am. Julia, I know that your life in Merryland wasn't as merry as it sounded. I just pretend that I don't. But don't get me wrong. If I do that, it's only because, deep down, I'm the most considerate person you'll ever meet. You know, it would be so easy for me to go around talking about the so-so life conditions you had in Merryland, and to take credit for being good and compassionate. But I'm not like that and never will be. I would never allow myself to talk about issues that I know I can't resolve, just for the sake of relieving my conscience. Julia, I need you to understand that my silence is mere —'

Mia's dashboard flashed red and a voice said, 'Apologies, your message cannot be recorded at this time. Please try again later. Thank you.'

Mia's body froze, her face bloodless and tense. Shivering, she called support.

'Hi — it's Mia — from You & You —'

'Hey, Mia. I'm Kim. How can I help you today?'

'I don't know — I — I had serious issues logging in this morning and then I was just leaving a message to —´

'Oh. Our bad, Mia. We didn't have time to warn you guys. We've upgraded the whole system overnight and we're still —'

'What? Are you kidding me? That was it?'

'Is there a problem?'

'No — It's just that — I got so carried —'

'Can I help you with anything else, Mia?'

'Well, yes. I was leaving a message to my good friend Julia. Can you tell me if it was actually sent?'

'Let me check the logs. That might take a minute.'

'Sure, I'll wait.'

'Mia?'

'Yes. I'm here.'

'Sorry Mia, you'll have to record your message all over again.'

'Pfew — thanks for that.'

'Oh? OK. Can I help you with anything else?'

'No. Thank you, Kim.'

Mia covered her mouth, trying her best at suppressing a shrill laugh of guilty relief and, also, at keeping it away from the sensors. She swiped Facebase Eden and scrolled through a carousel of faces and gleefully said, 'I would like to become the friend of, of, of — this lovely person.' Mona Ra-lu-ko-li-na-ra-la ? Wow, OK — I mean: that's such a beautiful name.'

'Hi, there, Mona. I'm Mia, would you like to become my friend?'

'Hello, Maya.'

'It's Mia.'

'Sorry. Mia.'

'No worries. How's it going for you guys?'

'It's alright.'

'Alright?'

'Yes. It's fine.'

'Oh. Just fine? I'm sorry to hear that, Mona, I honestly expected that you'd be a bit more —'

'We're fed and sheltered if that's what —'

'And it's all for free. Right?'

'You mean that I should be grateful and that I'm just —'

'Oh Mona, I'm so sorry, I of course didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry that you misunderstood. I

just want to check on your happiness. That's what Facebase Eden is all about, you know?'

'Fine, Mia.'

'Oh please, Mona, don't thank me. Thank you. We're just doing our best for you guys. You know, out here, working hard.'

'Very hard. I'm sure. You know that Bury Land was — '

'What about Merryland?'

'Oh Merryland, is it? Well let me tell you that Merryland was —'

'Sure, Mona, sure, but again, shouldn't we be looking at the bigger picture? I know Merryland could have of course been better. Please don't get me wrong.'

'You know, Mia, the more I —'

'Please go ahead, I'm here for you.'

'Oh what's the point —'

'Mona, it was great talking to you. You have a good one now.'

Indifferent to the five credits that had just fallen into her Wallit, Mia ended the conversation with a mixture of elation and angst. She scraped her throat and muttered inaudible words, then she called Logistix.

'Hey Rob'

'It's Malik, here.'

'You're the new guy?'

'Yup. At your service.'

'Welcome on board. Listen, I need to capture testimonials. I mean from Edeners.'

'Do you need to send a crew?'

'A crew, Malik? We don't send manned crews to Eden. Haven't you been given our Courtesy

Policy the minute you've arrived?'

'Yes, I have. I —'

'Malik, I'm sorry to inform you that you've just been flagged.'

'What? I really didn't — please — is there something that our crews shouldn't see in Eden?'

'I beg your pardon? You'd better tame that wild mind of yours.'

'Then I'm lost. What is it?'

'Sending manned crews on the ground is intrusive. Point-blank.'

'Ms Duncan-James — I apologize — please. Should I send Blazers instead?'

'Yes. Two Blazers. I'll be needing aerial shots. Then you'll drop fun Jolly Cams to capture

one-to-one testimonials.'

'I'll take care of that. Where and when, please?'

'Eden 55, tomorrow, 5 PM.'

'Consider it done.'

'Very well. Oh and Malik, send them a notification or something. I need to have them all in one place.'

'I will do that immediately.'

VII

A 7D cartoon character jumped out of Julia's Mirror and bounced on her bed. It did cartwheels and said, 'Woo-hoo-hoo, twiggle, twiggle. Looks like twelve people already want to become your friend', then it shrunk until it disappeared. A stack of Profile Flix appeared at the center of the Mirror, swiftly spreading out in orderly rows.

Julia didn't know these people, but suspected that they were all fifteen percenters. She stared at their smiling faces revolving in diamond-shaped cameos and read their lips as they said 'Hello', 'Hi', or 'Hey.' She listened to their layered murmurs, swelling and fading away in a perpetual loop until she staggered and felt sick. She looked up and read the first name out loud, Arus Alison. His profile expanded and the Mirror said, 'Calling Arus now.' Julia rolled her eyes, resolving to take the call anyway.

The pale young man smiled, waving his long, skinny fingers. When Julia uttered a red-faced hello, he took a step backwards and tucked his hands in the back pockets of his trousers. He mumbled, half assertive, half doubtful, 'I — would like — to be your friend?'

Julia sat on the bed, lost for words. Besides Mia she hadn't spoken to fifteen percenters in many years. Her appearance on Eden Now had left her with a bitter taste. Four years away from public life had suddenly felt like forty. She had been defeated, excluded. The world had changed and she had no part to play in it. In hindsight, Julia was remorseful for not having seized the opportunity that had been given to her when Mia invited her on her show. She could no longer remember what had led her to believe that it was more honorable and dignified to put a lid on the treatment that she and her neighbors in Merryland had been subjected to. Pulling her from her brooding, Arus asked timidly, 'Is that a bad time?' Julia nodded no and swallowed with difficulty. Abruptly, she asked, 'Arus, before I even get to Eden, have you ever been to Bury Land?'

The young man kept quiet. He crossed his arms and moved like the characters in Hiroji's games, slightly rotating his shoulders. Julia thought that he was put off by the icy tone of her voice and she was taken by surprise when he finally said, 'Tell me about it and, please, don't hold anything back.'

Skeptical, Julia asked, 'Are you sure, Arus? You've turned pale already. Can you stomach hearing about the true Merryland? Had you heard of Liquicem? Did you know about the nefarious Healers? Do you know what they did to people who were — quote, unquote — unfriendly? They were allowed to —.'

The connection dropped and resumed a few seconds later. Julia picked up where she had stopped.

Arus had anxiety disorders like most people his age. Early in the conversation, as soon as Julia had deliberately alluded to Bury Land, he discreetly activated Cameleon Hi Fi and crept out of the room. Without Julia realizing, the software led the conversation in his stead, emulating his lanky frame, his twitches and ticks and his tremulous voice. Versatile, Cameleon was also programmed to tell Julia exactly what she wanted to hear, its processors swiftly parsing her conversations that had been archived by Avalon over the years. The software delivered predictive questions and answers that cajoled Julia into believing that Arus was her twin in spirit, voicing her concerns and, above all, her notorious desire for a social revolution. Deluded, Julia believed that Arus was hungry for groundbreaking revelations. When his avatar asked her about Liquicem she said, 'That was Merryland's cemetery, a pool of acid where titanium name tags were said to float for a hundred years. People died there too, you know?' She watched him cover his eyes and shake his head. She bobbed hers and said, 'Yes — it's all true.' Arus's double took a step forward and said, 'Don't tell anyone about this conversation. Don't raise suspicion. Act normal. It's important.' Julia's eyes widened and she cowered on the bed while he continued, 'You're not alone. People here are calling out Peterson. We're getting organized.'

Julia stared at the Mirror, speechless, and the image froze for a few seconds. She looked at Arus's young, innocent face, his shy eyes and his glabrous skin. She thought that he was just a kid and feared for his safety, then Arus's clone jerked back into talking and she blurted out, 'I've been reckless. They're always listening. They'll get to you.' He smiled and told her not to worry, claiming that he was a consummate cryptologist, but Julia urged him to be careful all the same. When he apologized for having to go back to work, she bid him farewell, pressing her hands against her heart.

Dazed, Julia got up and leaned against the Mirror. She felt that Arus's words had revived the confident, uncompromising woman that she used to be. She contemplated that she would join the fight, that she would overthrow Avalon. For a fleeting moment she wanted to jump and scream, but before she could even form a thought, her disenchanted soul and her numbed body had already got the best of her. It seemed like the once-buoyant judge had forever become her own prisoner.

Julia's neck stiffened and her head was slightly shaking. She nodded to Hiroji distractedly when he asked her for the third time, 'Mom, can we go to the pool now?' Her mind slipped again. The children were dressed and ready to go. Snapping out of her daze, Julia muttered, 'Hiroji. Cream. Sunscreen. Anything. Hiroji pointed at the yellow floaties he had already fitted on Lula's arms and opened his hand showing pellets of cream, captured under a soft, soluble skin.

*

There was a large crowd sitting around the pool. Julia remembered when Arus said that she wasn't alone and wondered who else had spoken to him or to others like him. She stared at the people around her. They smiled at her like they always did, but this time she was convinced that she could divine a glimmer of playful mischief in their eyes. She thought, 'They've spoken too. Of course they have.' Containing an outburst of rage, she whispered through her teeth, 'We're not sheep, goddammit.' Ignoring the children, she sat by the pool and stared fixedly at a group of Edeners.

The pool was deep and Hiroji remembered when Yan had told his mother that children couldn't drown. He eased Lula into the water, then playfully frowned at the woman swimming next to him. He spouted, 'Oh I know. There must be a lifeguard-something hidden somewhere.' The woman asked, 'What?' Hiroji shrugged his shoulders and replied, 'They say you can't drown', then without a word of warning, he shook his arms and his legs in every possible direction. He cried for help and gasped for air until powerful jets massaged him to the surface and whisked him back on the grass.

Hiroji and everyone around him laughed and chortled, but Julia screamed. She ran to Lula. She caught her arm at once and swung her brutally out of the water, then she fell on her knees, her heart painfully thumping her ribs. In shock, Lula wailed, her voice covered by the sound of Edeners who pretended to be drowning. For every gliding body, the crowd shouted a loud hooray.

Catching her breath, Julia sent off Lula to play with other children who were chasing puppies around the pool. Yan towered over her. He wore a white t-shirt and buff cargo trousers. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest while he peered at her cleavage. She asked him with an inquisitive grin, 'Afraid of the pool, are we?', but her shuddering voice was drowned by the yapping of puppies, splashes in the water and deafening hoorays. She signed for him to come closer and asked again, 'Reminds you of Liquicem, doesn't it?' A woman sitting behind Julia interrupted, 'You must be Julia Hills.' Julia turned around and asked, 'Have we met?'

'I'm Alexa. I used to be a judge too.'

'Oh.'

'And yes, we've met.'

'We have?'

'Yes, when you were preparing to lift the ban on boxing and martial arts.'

'Justice Julia the Barbarian, that's what they called me.'

'There was no they, Julia. Haters were just bots. Peterson's bots.'

'Not only. Mothers and fathers told me to my face that I was backwards, that I romanticized

their children's lowest appetite for violence and bloodshed. Those were real people, Alexa.'

'Maybe, but Peterson was behind them. He was paving the way for unmanned courtrooms. No

judges. No lawyers. Just Lexy OS. After you were sent to Merryland, those same people claimed

that Lexy was more experienced, more humane and less fallible than you or me.'

'Peterson always hides behind people's yearning for alleged goodness, efficiency and —.'

'And it never stops.'

'No, Alexa. It does. Peterson, he's done. He's finished.'

Surprised, Alexa frowned, asking for more. Julia continued, shivering with impatience.

'Did you find requests on your Mirror, you know, from friends?'

'I got at least ten, maybe twelve.'

'Did you speak to anyone? And I mean — speak?'

Julia's question sadly reminded Alexa of her girlfriend who had promised to call her everyday, but instead, had only left her a farewell message that had broken her heart. Biting her lip, Alexa wrapped her arms around her knees and her eyes filled with tears. Misled, Julia believed that Alexa's pain was due to difficult conversations she had also had with fifteen percenters that Avalon, she thought, kept in the dark. She presumed that she now had an ally and that soon, she would have more. Cocking her head from side to side like a hunted animal, she checked that no one listened to their conversation. Suspicious of everyone, she murmured, 'Shush, don't say a word. Yan is right behind me.'

Puzzled again by Julia's awkward, in turn far-fetched and incongruous, allegations about Peterson then Yan, it seemed to Alexa that Justice Julia, like many duds, suffered from delusions of persecution. She smiled at Julia hesitantly and smiled again when she whispered in her ear, 'Come have lunch with me. Peterson's buying.'

Both women walked together, collecting Lula and Hiroji along the way. When they reached home, they gathered around the table and Julia did her best to sort out the food order. Ill-at-ease, Alexa finally conceded to a club sandwich with a Crunchy Juicy Mix; Hiroji ordered a Green Burger Supreme and Lula followed his lead. When the food arrived, they carried it outside and sat on the grass. An Edener passing by waved timidly and said, 'Way to go, guys.' Julia recognized the young man who had been terrified in the shuttle. Knitting her eyebrows together, she asked him worriedly, 'How are you feeling?'

'Alright, I guess.'

'I'm Julia. Join us — I think we're having a bit of a premature celebration.'

'I'm Theo. What are you celebrating?'

'Freedom for free, forever?'

'I see — yes.'

Julia gawked at Theo until he felt embarrassed. She had perceived contempt towards Avalon in the way he had hesitantly acquiesced and the blood rushed to her face. Theo sat down cross-legged in Julia's front yard while she got up quietly to go back inside. She thought that if people in the city were getting organized, it had become her duty to form battalions of Edeners. She cursed Arus for having urged her to keep quiet. She wanted to act without delay, but promised herself that she would wait. Galvanized by the thrilling effects of secrecy, she resolved to play a part, doing everything Avalon expected unheeding Edeners to be doing.

VIII

Five hundred residents stood on the green while Mia's Blazers flew over Eden 55.

They looked rested, content, slightly tanned and colorfully dressed. They whooped and waved their hands as soon as the Blazers opened their hatches to release tens of cameras as big as tangerines.

Cameras dropped and floated at eye level. They flew from one Edener to another and captured hundreds of jubilant and enthusiastic accounts. Lula told a camera about everything she had done since the day she arrived. She showed her nails that had been filed, her hair that had been cut and her latest dress with bananas on it. She said how big the pool was and how little puppies wandered about the village without a collar because they belonged to everybody. When Lula's camera flew to the next person, she had only described two of her four nighties.

Minutes later the cameras returned to their hatches and Edeners cheered to Blazers looping in formation. They flew vertically, then they split and joined again, spraying behind them a heart in the sky.

*

Some Edeners chatted joyfully with expressions of awe for the wondrous Eden, while others stood on their toes, waving their hands at long-lost friends that they spotted in the crowd. Yan also stood tall and began to chant as loud as he could, 'Treasure hunt. Treasure hunt.' People started chanting in waves that spread out through the crowd until all followed his lead, roaring and pounding the grass with their bare feet. Yan cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, 'Plug your Amity in your left ear and be set for a big surprise.' Edeners jostled each other laughing and speculated with anticipation. Omar tapped his neighbor's arm and said, 'You know, last time, the green — it turned into a friggin' jungle.'

When Omar's pupils fully dilated, huge letters appeared to him against a pink, synthetic sky.

MAY THE HUNT BEGIN

Hiroji chuckled and lost his balance. He scrabbled about to catch Lula's hand, then he remembered that he could see her too. Reality blended with fiction, seamlessly.

Over the green, on the strike of a resounding gong, appeared the ruins of an ancient city, stretching to the horizon. There was smoke and chaos. Wagons were turned upside down with their wheels spinning. Mud bricks fell from crumbling shacks. Goats ran from side to side, followed by men in shabby cloaks. 'Listen to me, my people', said a vibrant, gravelly voice, playing only in everyone's head. 'It is I, Burulum, last king of Ur.'

Edeners stood still, panting, waiting for a clue. 'Walk, my people', he said, like a father to his children. 'Walk', he repeated.

Muffled drums rolled louder and louder and trumpets stabbed the notes of a maddening tune. Hiroji held Lula's hand, pressing it with excitement. He said, 'We'll find the treasure, I promise.'

Edeners walked in the same direction, following evanescent children in rags.

'My people', said Burulum. He now sounded sad and melancholic. 'My people', he repeated in a tired, croaky voice. 'My city has been destroyed and my riches have fallen to the House of Baal, the hideous traitor.' Lula asked what riches meant, but Hiroji's attention was elsewhere. 'Find it', Burulum shouted with rage. 'Bring it to me', he said when loud drums and deafening trumpets scared a thousand crows away. Hiroji gasped and watched them flapping their wings until they shrunk to the size of dots, dissolving in a red setting sun.

Edeners were surrounded by the crackling steps of their friends and neighbors, cautiously avoiding rocks and wooden beams in flames. Some lifted their knees up to their chin and others shrieked when they stepped on embers, although the grass beneath their feet was moist, cool and soft.

Hiroji and Lula ran ahead while Julia wandered around, deliberately pretending to be enthralled by what she considered to be a farcical reconstitution of an ancient Mesopotamian city. Like a enthused archeologist, she gazed at colossal reliefs of winged lions facing each other; fallen statues of bearded men with large blue eyes and rolls that were covered in hieroglyphics and, much before their time, in latin formulas. Suspecting that she was being closely watched by Avalon, she whispered, although loud enough, 'This is remarkable.' Then she stopped to listen. The voice claiming victory was Hiroji's.

Edeners converged on the House of Baal, rushing through a labyrinth of alleyways. A little girl shuffled through the crowd and asked, 'Is it a chest of toys like in the olden days?'

Hiroji stood on the colored mosaics of a nobleman's house, pointing his finger at a message carved in the ground. It said, 'Share these words with everyone.'

The treasure was only three words.

TO MY EDEN

No one understood what the words meant or why they were precious, but Hiroji yelled out, 'I know.' He pressed his Amity deep into his ear and shouted, 'To my Eden', then he fell backwards and shrieked, 'Guys, I'm on a pirate ship.' Lula bent over her brother and asked, 'Hiroji, where are you going?'

Hiroji was going to his Eden, a tailored compendium of everything Hiroji-Huapaya Hills had ever seen, experienced and loved since the day he was born — exciting memories, emulated and enhanced endlessly according to pleasure.

Intrigued, Edeners sat cross-legged on the grass to quickly say the words, To my Eden. Spellbound, they fell on their backs, uttering sounds of childish merriment and awe. A cacophony of shrill, husky and hectoring voices filled the air as more and more people lay on the grass, commanding to be taken to their Edens.

Julia pulled out her Amity in haste, exiting abruptly the hunt's elaborate decorum. She staggered. Night had fallen, moonless. Hiroji sat on the grass, immobile, as though possessed. She called his name and Lula shook his shoulder asking him what else he could see. Julia sat next to him and spoke slowly, holding his hand. She pressed her palm against his forehead and gently shut his dilated eyes, then she lay him on the grass and eased the culpable device out of his ear. Expressionless, Hiroji whispered, 'Mom, you have to see this. I can't explain. You just have to see it.'

Hiroji sat up, moving and breathing slowly. He looked to his left and, unhurriedly, to his right. The green was strewn with Edeners whose chests swelled in unison to the sound of deep and restful sighs. Hiroji looked at his mother and smiled angelically, 'Mom, don't be afraid, they're just dreaming.' Worried that her son's brain had been corrupted irredeemably by Avalon's mind-controlling ploys, Julia helped him up, smiling, pretending to agree.

Firmly holding the hands of her children, Julia stood on the green, chilled by what she considered to be a harrowing spectacle of blind and collective submissiveness. Again, she felt that she was being watched, not only by Yan whose shadowy appearance moved steadily in her direction, but also by Avalon. Aware that she stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of a compliant crowd, she still couldn't bring herself to pretend that she wanted any part of Avalon's enchanting hallucinations. She watched Yan coming closer, making his way between Edeners who lay on the grass. Julia squeezed her children's hands harder and harder as Yan approached. Swallowing her fear, she sported an air of confident indifference.

'Yan, why don't you walk us home? This little one needs to go to bed.'

Yan kept quiet, then sighed, as though disappointed in something Julia had said or done. Slowly stretching his hand, he invited her to lead the way. Julia wanted to confront him. She wanted to ask him why of all people, he hadn't succumbed to his Eden; why he had kept away from the pool and of the virtual travels and adventures that raptured people's mind all through the days and all through the nights. She found him guilty as charged until she realized that she hadn't done any of these things either. Confused, she wondered if she hadn't misjudged him all along. She gazed at Hiroji and was comforted to observe that he had swiftly returned to being his own, usual self. She turned abruptly to Yan, catching him by surprise in a moment of lonely introspection. Hunching his imposing shoulders, in that moment he appeared harmless and sad. Julia stopped, pulling Yan out of his reverie. She let go of Lula's hand and, offering a truce to the man that she had deeply resented, she asked Lula if she would like to ride on Yan's shoulders.

Yan and Julia walked side-by-side, with Lula taunting Hiroji for being so small. Besides Lula, no one spoke a word and, all around, the only noise they could hear was that of Yan's ragged breath. Reaching the village, they turned on what Hiroji called the Tall House Road, because it had the tallest house in all of Eden 55. Yan lifted Lula off his shoulders and, landing her on the ground he looked up at Julia.

'Julia, those people on the green, they're not just dreaming. They're also unwinding.'

'I know, I know. I trust you. I just don't trust everything else.'

'Why the big words, Justice Julia? There's nothing to trust or mistrust. I've tried going to my Eden. Not worth such a fuss.'

' I've never seen you trying anything.'

'I have. It was four or five days ago. They let me try it the day they gave me this job.'

'Job? Why didn't you tell me that Avalon had given you a job?'

'Did you ever let me? No. You kept me away. I'm the Steward of Eden 55.'

'Steward? What are you meant to be doing?'

'Help people. Guide them — nothing much, the more I think of it.'

'That's all?'

'Well yes. What else?'

'Why did they choose you?'

'When they sent me here, just the way they sent you, I asked if I could have a job — and they just gave me one. How simple is that?'

'How come you've sided with Avalon?'

'I haven't sided with anyone. I need to keep busy. Is that so hard for you to understand?'

'So why weren't you upfront about it?'

'Julia — everybody here knows that I'm a Steward.'

'So it's just me?'

'Again, you never left me a chance.'

'I knew you were hiding something.'

'I wasn't hiding anything. Anyway — now you know.'

'So this to my Eden business, what's it all about?'

'It's a self-healing gimmick. It's like watching a show on the Mirror, except that the show is all

about you.'

'People on the green seemed to have lost control.'

'They're letting go, Julia. If I may, you're the one who's too controlling.'

'I am.'

'Let the kids go to their Edens. Go to your Eden too. Think about it. In the end, it's for the best,

then you won't need it anymore. Look at me, do I look like someone who's —.'

'You look just fine.'

Julia invited Yan to come inside. He thanked her and wished them all a good night.

Hiroji ran to his room, sealing himself at once. Julia suspected that he would be going straight back to his Eden, but decided to let him be for a while. She sat on the couch, recalling the hunt, Yan and Edeners. She thought of Arus and, again, of Yan: on one hand, an inexperienced and overly confident young man had feverishly adjured her to be suspicious of everything and everyone. On the other, Yan had coaxed her into trusting that she and her children were safe. Unable to make up her mind as to who she should believe, she took her Amity out of her pocket. After a long hesitation, she tucked it reluctantly into her ear, whispering to herself, 'Ten minutes, not more.' Digging her nails into the couch, she dreaded to be lost at sea, on a pirate ship, like Hiroji. She took a deep breath and muttered, 'To my Eden.' Instantly, Julia's troubled eyes surrendered to a foolish, innocent smile.

Ten minutes elapsed. Then twenty. Entranced, Julia delved deeper and deeper into her beckoning Eden until the early hours of the morning. Eyes shut, insensitive to sun rays that flooded the pad, she fell asleep, her face glowing with bliss and ecstasy.

IX

'Mom — wake-up. Mom, please wake up —'

'What —'

'Hiroji — why do you always have to —'

'Mom —'

'What time is it?'

'I don't know, I've been —'

'Right. Never mind.'

Unfazed by Hiroji's visible agitation, Julia stood in front of him with hair caught between her lips. Amused, she said, 'Oops', when her glowing Amity fell on her shoulder. She smiled a daft smile and stroked Hiroji's hair.

Hiroji had never seen that smile and flinched. Smiling again, Julia stretched her arms and yawned, 'Where's your sister, honey?' Baffled by his mother's sudden ease of heart and affection, he frowned briefly, and then he shuffled to Lula's room.

Hiroji found his sister sleeping stretched out on her stomach. He patted her shoulders, then he shook them and turned her around. Lula didn't wake up or even grumble. Hiroji flicked out her glowing earpiece and when he sat her up, Lula's head dropped on his shoulder. He panicked, crying for Julia. Julia walked to Lula's room and nonchalantly said, 'Lula, come on, wake up, darling.' She lifted her in her arms and peacefully took her outside for sun and fresh air.

Unsettled by Julia's unparalleled aloofness, Hiroji stared at his mother, reprimanding, as though parent and child had exchanged roles overnight. He stuck his nose to the porthole as soon as Lula began to weep and was struck to see neighbors sitting or lying in their front yards in awkward positions. Julia walked in and sat Lula on the couch, gently patting her cheek. Hiroji lost his temper.

'Mom — one day you tell us to be careful, the next you act like you don't care.'

'What?'

'Mom — what's wrong with you? Didn't you see what Lula looked like?'

'I know you're worried about Lula, but she's only —'

Julia interrupted herself. Hiroji shivered from head to toe, his teeth chattering as he continued.

'You've been impossible to wake up.'

'I'm awake now, you —'

'Mom, you don't understand. I really tried to wake you. I thought you were —.'

Before he could finish his sentence, Julia opened her arms and pressed her son against her chest.

Hiroji hiccuped and wept, his arms dangling on both sides of his body. Julia murmured in his ear.

'It's my fault. I have made you live in constant fear and vigilance. This stops today. I promise.'

'But Mom, you were right. Look at the people outside. They're —'

'No honey, they'll be fine. You were right all along. Yan was right. You were all right. I was the one clinging to —.'

Julia interrupted herself again. She no longer knew what she meant to say, as though one part of her brain had been forbidden from reaching the other. She couldn't remember her doubts, her suspicions or her fears. She could only ascertain that she had had many and that they were all gone.

Hiroji looked up at his mother and asked, 'Mom are we really going to be OK?' Julia embraced him again. She closed her eyes, repeating to herself what Yan had told her the night before, you should go to your Eden too. Think about it. In the end, it's for the best, then you won't need it anymore. A faint alert echoed in the depths of her obscured mind, prompting her to wonder why Yan had added that capitulating to her Eden was the best end she could desire for herself and for her children. A sinister thought visited Julia, but vanished at once. It was as though her self-protective instincts were only triggered in vain, instantly overridden by unequivocal signals of confidence and trust.

Julia released Hiroji from her embrace. She whispered, 'Come you two. We should eat.'

X

Although he slept on the couch, Yan's bedding was changed every morning. His Rota Bed flipped on its axis while his sheets, blankets and pillows were removed and instantly replaced.

Yan peered through the porthole, noting that Edeners got up later and later, if they got up at all. Unlike his neighbors, he woke up at sunrise and maintained an athletic body and a healthy diet: a glass of hot water in the morning, fruit and almonds for lunch and green soups for supper, mostly broccoli soup. His Eden was the real Eden, as he didn't care too much for virtual games and childhood memories.

Walking to the bar, he stopped and carefully placed his mug on a slick bartop where mugs and glasses were in-laid in numbered, designated circles. His mug got sucked into the bar, releasing a muffled click and a long wheeze. It reappeared seconds later, washed and dried. Smiling, Yan rubbed his hands and prepared himself for a lonely tour of Eden 55.

A devoted Steward, he enjoyed inspecting the green or being useful to his neighbors whenever he could. He was attracted to Julia, but also apprehensive of her. Her angst was a constant reminder of his own. His role was to exhibit confidence and vigor, and he made a point of showing this to the Edeners, yet he feared that his newly acquired comfort could be taken away from him without a word's notice.

Yan realized that he hadn't spent time with Julia or the children in two days. At times, Hiroji and Lula appeared at their doorstep for a few seconds, but the hours they spent in their Edens seemed to make daylight insufferable and each time, they vanished like rabbits into their holes.

Yan began his stroll around the village under the blistering sun, looking for a name, a stone or anything he didn't already know. Julia thought that all houses were different, but he knew that they weren't: their colors changed throughout the day and small details switched places, imperceptibly; houses grew or shrunk by a few inches and, every night, a new house became the tall house.

Confused neighbors often walked confidently to the wrong pad, unable to open their doors, no matter how long they looked up for their irises to be scanned. They ran around the village like headless chicken until Yan walked them back home. Eventually, they felt safer in their emulated Edens.

Few asked where Eden 55 began and ended, but every morning, Yan stared at the green and wondered. Wherever he set his eyes, he could only see the horizon and therefore he deduced that Eden 55 was built on a hill. He promised himself to reach the end of the green and each day, he took a few steps further. Only fifty yards beyond the pool, Yan always seemed to march back precipitously, sweating and feeling anxious to be home.

Yan lay on the grass and pressed his hands over his eyes. He squeezed them shut to evade the morning sun and squinted at twinkling dots he saw dancing in the dark. He breathed heavily and whispered a poem through his teeth.

Eden. Prison. Merryland. Lock.

Peterson. Avalon. Parliament. Stock.

Riots. Prison. Tuning shots.

One is fine,

Two, a fine,

Three, I'm free.

One is fine,

Two, a fine,

Three, I'm free.

'You know the rules, Sir, am I right?'

'Yes, Officer, I do.'

'That counts for a one. You understand, am I right.'

'Yes, Officer, I do.'

'How much did you steal?'

'One hundred and ten, Officer.'

'That's a lot of credits, Sir. Am I right?'

'Yes, that's a lot.'

'Fine. You may go back to work now, Sir.'

'Thank you, Officer.'

'Am I being fair to you?'

'Yes, Officer, you are.'

'In full, please?'

'Yes, Officer, you are being fair to me.'

'And?'

'Thank you, Officer, Thank you.'

Eyes shut, Yan felt a shadow creeping over his face and sprung on his feet as a little girl commanded, 'Tell me that story.' Yan staggered about, blinded by the sun while the little intruder glared at him with her dark, fiery eyes.

'Who's officer Thank You?'

'You're Saphira, yes? Where's your father, Manuel?'

'He's asleep.'

'Go back to him, now. It's too hot.'

'Tell me that story, about the officer. I don't know it.'

'I didn't know it either. Someone told it to me.'

'I want to know it.'

'You don't need to. Let's walk you home.'

*

One is fine played on every network when Avalon's Fair Police, replaced Fed Secure.

Avalon believed that there was no logical reason to lose hope in people who committed bloodless crimes and misdemeanors. With Fair Police, offenders who were caught once were warned and sent back home. Caught twice, they paid a fine. Caught a third time, repeat offenders were offered total freedom with PrediPal, a painless implant that warned them when they were just about to lose their way.

Nothing was more reliable than PrediPal because all crimes such as theft, lies, sexual harassment or financial fraud had a unique physiological signature — combinations of body heat, blood pressure, chemical alterations and electric signals.

By all accounts, Fair Police was self-empowerment, not control.

XI

Julia lay on the couch, her head lolling on one side, eyelids half-open. She was sweating. Pins and needles throbbed in her arm. Awoken by a discomforting sensation, she patted the back of her dress and realized that she had wet the couch in her sleep. Mildly annoyed, she got up and caught her reflection in the porthole that was dimmed. She was disheveled and when she swept the hair off her face, her Amity bounced on the shiny floor. It was quiet. Everywhere. Julia wrapped the bottom of her dress around her waist and casually sighed, 'Where is everybody?'

She showered and blacked out each time she closed her eyes. She leaned against the wall, slipped, but then managed to steady herself enough to step out of the cabin. She squinted at the closet as she picked a new dress. A voice said, 'Apologies. You are currently standing on QuickDraw, please step aside so that your garment may be delivered. Thank you.' Julia took a step backwards and, tottering like a drunk, she grumbled, 'Come on, dress.' She pulled the dress off the hanger and put it on, zipping it on the side as she hobbled to the door.

It was dark. It was late. Julia shuffled to the pathway and slowly turned her head when Yan called her name. He chuckled, 'Don't just stand there. Come on over. We're about to have supper.' She whispered, 'Supper?' Both her children were there, sitting by his side, their backs resting against the wall. Reacting slowly, she walked mechanically towards the voice that had called her name. Bending over Hiroji, she gently clasped her hands around his face and slurred as she spoke.

'Honey, why didn't you wake me up for breakfast?'

Before Hiroji could answer, Yan pressed his hand over Julia's wrist, admitting that it was all his fault. He said that the children had tried to wake her. When she could not be roused, they stepped outside and he invited them in. He gave them snacks and told them that she needed to sleep out Bury Land and that she was finally healing.

Julia nodded. She agreed that she was healing: Masashi, her companion, she had met him in her Eden night after night; she loved him, she was sure of it; she knew that she had overwhelmed him with accusations that may have been exaggerated. She didn't seem to remember clearly. Maybe she had only been afraid to lose custody over the children if ever she became redundant before he did; she was going to find him, no matter how and she was going to make it up to Hiroji.

Julia squatted next to Yan. She pulled her knees to her chest and murmured that she was going to be just fine. She dropped her head backwards and stared at the house facing Yan's. It was dark, lifeless. She closed her eyes and her lips flapped to a gentle snore, soon discontinued when she heard Yan assuming a loud, professorial tone, 'So. Lula. What color should we have for supper. Red? Yellow? Green?' Julia smiled. She rubbed the back of her neck and rose falteringly on her feet. Her sore eyes quivered when she stepped into the light, but Yan promptly dimmed the pad until she could barely see him or her children. He pointed at the table and solemnly proclaimed, 'A green supper I conspired with Lula.'

Julia felt that there was no one else in the village, on Earth or anywhere: there was just Yan, in the vast, infinite space and darkness. She stared at the outline of his large ears and smiled as she imagined his bushy eyebrows and his thick, cracked lips. She whispered to herself, 'How can a man be so kind?' Yan's voice resounded in her ears. She sensed it, there, echoing all around her. She felt something opening and expanding in her brain like a large, blooming flower. She had a silent epiphany: 'Eden is a place where delicate things become visible, audible. Tiny things, meaningless things. Beautiful things. Yan didn't fix dinner, he didn't get dinner. He tastefully said that he had conspired it. And when my eyes hurt because of the light, I didn't need to ask for anything. A neighbor that I barely knew immediately dimmed the lights, for me, and he didn't expect to be thanked, he didn't even look my way, seeking instant reward or gratitude. Yan did it for nothing. Yes, for nothing: Eden, for free, forever. That's it. It never was about free food, free pools and free games. It's about a long lost abundance finally setting people free. It's about giving and receiving, but always freely, gracefully, disinterestedly.'

Julia murmured, 'Grace is Freedom and Freedom is Grace', then she dropped her head forward. She smiled and nodded repeatedly, praising herself for having reached the truth. Incidentally, she realized that her bowl was empty, although she didn't remember drinking her soup. Lula had fallen asleep at the table and Hiroji stared at her, awake, but statufied. Yan clapped his hands and said, 'Time for you people to go.'

Clumsily sliding off her stool, Julia got up and walked to Yan. She caressed his cheek with her sweaty hand. Breathing heavily, she bobbed her head and assured him that she could see and understand everything. Leaving Lula and Hiroji at the table, she walked home and, inside the house, she sat on the couch without noticing that it was dry and smelt of gel. She only whispered, 'To my Eden.'

As instructed by the voice of a young man resounding only in her ears, Julia walked to her bedroom. She sealed the door behind her and lay on the bed. She knew that voice and smiled. It was her father's, when he was still a young man. He was there, she could see him. She was there too, a little girl. She saw herself facing him, standing in her red, velvet dress. Her father leaned against a tree, he whistled and pretended that he couldn't see her. Julia wrinkled her nose and remembered that he used to do that all the time. The fishing jacket he wore, she knew it all too well: sleeveless, eleven pockets and a silver ring hanging on the side. She couldn't see the ring because of the tree, but she knew that it was there. Little Julia ran to him clumsily. She closed her podgy fingers around her thumbs. She passed him by. He caught her and swung her in the air, pirouetting in a bed of leaves. Julia whispered, 'There. The ring.'

Julia lay in bed. She jerked her knees from time to time, when her father swung her in the air or when, later, she danced with Masashi. She breathed deeply and slowly. She nodded yes and sometimes, she nodded no. She wept, she sniffled, she sighed. She passed out.

Hiroji and Lula were in their beds too, sealed off, deep into their Edens.

In Lula's Eden, there was Hiroji and also Yan. Hiroji took two pots of yogurt and said they were binoculars and they transformed into real binoculars. Through them she saw the merry-go-round where Hiroji turned in circles, waving and calling her name. Then there was Hiroji again. He drank magic water and said it would make him as strong as Yan. At every gulp, his body grew taller and stronger until he turned into Yan. Lula thought that she giggled and shrieked at Hiroji's razzle-dazzle, but she only grunted and groaned.

XII

Yan sat at his table and stared at the green supper he had shared with his neighbors. He hadn't touched his soup, nor had the children. Julia had drunk hers noisily, staining her chest and the table with every spoonful she slurped. The moment she had walked in, he had found her utterly repulsive and immediately, he had dimmed the lights so that he would be spared the sight of her demented eyes.

Since Julia had left, Yan sat riveted to his stool, engulfed by the darkness of the pad, his forearms resting on the table in a sphynx-like fashion. Every half hour, a voice kindly announced, 'Apologies, your table cannot be serviced at this moment. Please consider stepping aside so that your table may be serviced. Thank you.' At the fourth warning, Yan got up, he put on his sneakers and left home. When he reached the merry-go-round, he turned on Pathway 7 and began to jog. He breathed in twice and exhaled in short puffs as he ran. He kept a regular pace and said, 'Nice and steady, Yanis.' As he reached the green he picked up speed, then he ran around the village until something caught his eye. Marek Manus, the oldest resident in the village, walked on Pathway 11, bending his back each time he took a small, hesitant step. His head was buried in his scrawny shoulders. His frail, wrinkled hands were joined over his starved stomach and seemed to keep him in balance. Yan slowed down and passed him by quietly, then he looked over his shoulder. Marek said, 'Here you are my lovely one. It's so beautiful, Katyoosha. Can you see it too?'

Deciding to walk him home, Yan took his hand, but the old man halted and asked, 'Didn't I promise that I would build you a school? Well I built it, right here. Right here in Eden. Ah Katyoosha, how you and I will be —.'

As Marek looked as if he were about to collapse, Yan carried him to his pad and laid him on his bed. His wife Katia was there, lying on her back. Her hand covered her shrivelled face and both their devices glowed in their dark.

*

It was Yan's night of the Dashes, the night he walked up and down every pathway to count white dashes that flashed on people's doors. On Julia's door, two dashes flashed instead of three, so he stood still and waited. He walked to the side of the pad and stuck his ear against the wall. A minute later, Lula's Rota Bed went off. He heard it flipping, wheezing and clicking back into position. He took a long breath and checked the front door. Lula's name had also turned into a dash. Sighing with relief, Yan walked to S, the third alleged dispensary.

There was nothing in cube S besides white, vaporous light and as soon as he walked in, his eyes quivered. A quiet voice greeted him warmly, 'Hello, Yanis. You must be quite tired.'

Yan kept silent. He crossed his arms, ready to be questioned.

'Yan, what is village status at this time?'

'Hello Peterson. It's F.'

'Yan, village status in full, please.'

'Flushed. Eden 55 has been flushed.'

'Thank you, Yan. See you next week.'

Cube S faded to pulsating hues of purple and began transmitting Village Data to Avalon Central.

Throbbing images of Edeners filled the cube, exabytes of lifelike faces, bodies, wrinkles, muscles, glances, smiles, grins, twitches, frowns, sighs and winks. Each of their quirks fluttered to the sound of their every voice, chuckle, laugh and whisper. Yan caught flashing images of himself, talking to Julia, then he saw Julia's face filling the cube while every tremor in her lips was being played over and over again until Avalon Central learned and memorized them all. A voice said, 'Emulation in progress, please wait.'

Yan left the cube and leaned against the merry-go-round. He thought that this time had been easier: Eden managed itself and pads were predictive, accommodating people's habits, their skills and their dialects. However, Eden also confounded and deceived its residents, but Yan liked that it did. He wanted work. He needed purpose.

When HR had fixed the date of his migration to Eden, he told them that he'd rather stay in Bury Land. He didn't care about free food, toys or puppies.

HR had already singled him out. They needed Stewards, a few hundred at least, one for every Eden. Four days later, a woman had knocked at his door, escorted by Healers who had kindly asked him to step outside. She had said, 'I'm hiring you.' She was short, plump and pale, with reddish, wispy hair. Imperceptible wrinkles covered her cheeks and caught the light whenever she spoke, but she had only spoken once.

They had walked together down Yan's crowded hallway where hunched men and women sat huddled on each side. These men and women had looked up at the Healers, but kept quiet and uncannily still, because they knew what Healers did to Unfriendly Persons. The whispers about how Healers snuck into their rooms and tuned them in their sleep could not be ignored. Tuned residents woke up, unaware of what they had been through, but when they sat fish-eyed, smiling in the Plazas, their neighbors could tell that they had received a corrective thyroid injection.

Yan, the woman and the Healers had walked without stopping through the hallways and out until they reached the side of a brown shuttle parked on Plaza Everest. Once alongside the shuttle, the door slid open. A footrest unfolded noiselessly. Yan stepped in first, followed only by the woman. The shuttle had no windows, but only two large seats in the center, facing each other. Then the pale woman sat down as Yan eased himself into the opposite seat. A pellucid screen filled the space between the two while a young woman's voice whirled around the shuttle, repeating three times the terms and conditions of his employment.

Yan had listened carefully. He had sat still for a moment, then taken off his shirt, placing it on the armrest to his right, thereby accepting the terms of the bargain. While waiting, the pale woman had dropped her head backwards, appearing to sleep.

Clenching his fists while the headrest folded itself over his temples, Yan received three shots in the back and then one in his ear. The first three shots had been painless, but the last one in his ear caught him by surprise. He had screamed and jumped off his seat, panting and tottering like a boxer about to fall. The moment he managed to sit down, the shuttle began to move while an immersive tutorial played before his eyes. It had lasted for two hours and when it stopped, he discovered that the pale woman had disappeared.

Yan had been on his way to Eden 55. He knew what to expect, where to go and what to do.

*

Data transmission ended and cube S slowly faded to white.

Yan was asleep, his back resting against the merry-go-round. He was tired. More Redundants were coming at sunset and all would start again. He yawned and walked to his pad to the sound of twinkling mowers, whirring up and down the green.

On both sides of the pathway, new names glowed on the doors: Michele Epitropakis, Lana Hakim, Liu Sénélé, Randall Genet. Yan's name was still there and he knew that, as long as he respected the rules, he would never be flushed.

XIII

Hiroji fluttered and widened his eyes until the world around him came into focus. Lula was there, next to him, sleeping on her side. From top to bottom, the back of her nightie was covered in dust and stalks that stuck to a thin layer of slimy grease.

Hiroji was shocked not to be in bed, on the green or in the village. For a moment, he thought that he was in his Eden and patted his right ear for an Amity , then he patted his left, but there was nothing there either.

He was barefoot, in a clearing and his pajamas were torn and also covered in dust and stains. He got up, breathless, and looked at the woods stretching ahead of him.

Far away, behind and above the trees, shifting reflections caught his attention. Hiroji tilted his head to the left and the reflections moved with him. He walked sideways and the reflections followed him again. His heart began to race. He patted Lula's shoulder repeatedly.

'Lula, we need to go.'

'Hiroji —'

'Yes.'

'Where am I?'

'I don't know.'

'Where's mama?'

'I can't remember what happened. Come on, Lula.'

'Hiroji, is this my Eden?'

'No Lula, this is very real.'

'Is this your Eden?'

'Lula enough questions already — we really need to go.'

'Where?'

'Over there.'

Lula wanted to pee and her brother asked her to hold it until they reached the trees. She expected to find a KiddyClean and cried when he told her to squat. They walked in the shadows of tall trees and Lula whined and moaned until she became distracted by walking barefoot on springy beds of fir-needles.

The woods opened on another clearing with more woods beginning at the end of it. Lula didn't want to go any further and began to sulk. She sat on the ground and Hiroji sat by her side, unaware that three small cameras came flying their way. They stopped and hovered, and a woman's voice came out of the cameras.

'Who are you? What are you doing here?'

Lula screeched and Hiroji stood up at once.

'My name is Hiroji Huapaya-Hills. We're lost. Can you help us?'

'What was that?'

'Help. We need help.'

'Where are your parents?'

'We're alone.'

'Don't move.'

The cameras hovered around Hiroji and Lula for a few seconds then they went flying far behind them. When they came back a few minutes later, they floated in front of them and the woman summoned them to follow the cams.

Hiroji and Lula walked passed the clearing and deep into the woods, their heels sunk into the moss as they made their way forward. The reflections Hiroji had seen earlier kept getting closer and closer until he saw his own distorted reflection. A door suddenly slid and hissed, and a woman appeared before his eyes. She had clothes resting on one arm and dropped two pairs of slippers on the ground. Her hands were shaking and she said, 'Come here', gawking at the children.

She had short brown hair and green watery eyes. Her tall body was wrapped in a light grey robe and her toes stuck out from a white pair of slippers with the letter M embroidered in gold. She said, 'Put these on.' She pointed at the slippers and gave each child a brown robe which clung to their slender bodies. The children obeyed her instructions and followed her inside.

The floor reflected the clouds above their heads and anywhere they looked, they saw the woods and the sky. The woman said, 'Don't touch anything', then, pointing at a transparent elevator she said, 'Step in here, quick.' A few seconds later, she pushed them out of the elevator.

In a large room that seemed empty at first sight, there were two pear-shaped cushions, sitting opposite to each other and between them, a round table with dizzying designs, dancing above the surface. Like the house itself, furniture and partitions could only be perceived from a certain angle.

Hiroji told the woman about Eden, Amity devices, School Eden, the hunt, Julia, Alexa, Theo, Yan and the green supper. He said, 'After supper, we went home and then I don't know what happened.' The woman listened carefully, tilting her head and crossing her arms. When Hiroji stopped, she broke into a brief, nervous laugh and snickered, 'Green supper — you tell good stories, young man.' The woman arched her back until Lula felt her quavering breath ruffling her hair. She said, 'Look at your clothes. You've escaped Merryland, haven't you?', then she walked away from the cushions and drew a circle in the air with her index finger.

Avalon's emblem appeared in a hologram and when she said, 'Facebase Eden', a carousel of faces took its place, showing smiling Edeners blinking slowly and waving hello.

Bending her knees, she locked Hiroji with her green, probing eyes, 'When I see these glowing faces, Hiroji, I cannot believe a word you've said'. Losing patience, she sighed with irritation, 'Your mother. Her name.' Hiroji answered promptly, chilled by the woman's inexplicable fear and hostility towards him. She turned to the hologram and quietly asked, 'Profile of Julia Hills', please.'

The glowing faces faded away and Julia's body appeared in full, revolving slowly in the hologram. Lula shouted, 'Hiroji, that's mom.' She ran towards her mother's apparition while, simultaneously, the woman took a giant step forward, to prevent her from going any further. Lula burst into tears, looking for Hiroji, then she looked up at the woman who stood, shell shocked, as tall as a crane.

Feeling remorseful for having been excessively suspicious and harsh, the woman got down on her knees. Not daring to cup her hands around Lula's cheeks the way she wanted to, she only whispered reassuringly, 'I'm Maria. I believe you now.'

*

Maria took the children to a meroom on the same floor and got them clothes their size. She said, 'Take a shower. Both of you, alright? I'll be waiting in the lounge if you need me.' Before leaving the room, Maria pointed at a large shower cabin featuring an endless row of colorful gel dispensers with tens of scents and flavors. The cabin's wall was transparent and overlooked the trees. Hiroji said, 'You go first, OK? It's like in Eden: just step over there.'

As soon as Maria heard the sound of drizzling water, she rushed back to Facebase Eden, where Julia's image was still revolving in the hologram. She said, 'Call Julia Hills, please', and she waited. Julia appeared in the vapory circle, sitting on her bed, wearing a sleeveless, ivory dress, with sunglasses hanging on a scooped neckline.

'Hello, Julia, my name is Maria de Belle.'

'Hello. Nice to meet you, Maria. Would you like us to become friends?'

'Yes, Julia — I —'

'I would like that too and so would my children.'

'Yes, that's precisely the reason I'm —'

'Hiroji? Lula? Come say hi. Come on.'

Clones of Hiroji and Lula sat on each side of Julia's bed and Hiroji winked and waved hello. Maria gawked at the faces of the children who, as she spoke, were taking a shower in her house. She gathered that nothing she was looking at was real, not the children or their mother who, later, wrapped her arms around their shoulders. She asked herself why she would be so maliciously made to believe that they were still in Eden. Paralyzed, she wondered what had happened to the real Julia and if she was even alive. Hiroji's duplicate winked again and, as he was just about to wave his hand for the second time, Maria disappeared the ghastly spectacle and let herself fall onto a cushion. She felt nauseous and pressed her palm against her lips, then she got up and walked as steadily as she could to one of the water tanks circling the room. She filled a glass with water and drank it down in gulps so great that she coughed, choked and sprayed the floor. She turned around, taking her breath and distractedly left her glass on the wrong side of the bartop, immediately prompting it to flicker white and blue.

Maria grunted and slammed the glass in its proper, designated place and the flickering stopped.

XIV

Yan woke up to the humming sound of vacuum cleaners and water jets. He looked outside. The sun was over the merry-go-round. It was midday and Eden 55 was cleaning itself like a scrupulous cat.

He didn't need to, but Yan enjoyed inspecting the pads, walking tall and proud with his hands behind his back. He played with Eden's sanitizing puppies, passing between his legs and returning to their charging pods after their job was done. He stood by the Rota Beds as they flipped three times around their axis, wrapping themselves with fresh bedding. Yan looked under the beds but saw nothing other than translucent glass and white, immaculate shafts. He didn't know what happened to his short-lived guests, but when the tutorial said that, on the eighth day, all villagers would be flushed, it seemed obvious enough.

Yan was never a firefighter. He was a movie maker, a successful one until mevies came along. Yan never spent a day on the street either, but five years in prison for taking part in a protest when there was still a government. When he was released, there were no more protests, riots, or a government to blame. There was Merryland and a Parliament run by Avalon. Prisons were emptied and dismantled, Avalon declaring them unnecessary since Fair Police, hormonal and genetic tunings helped known offenders and newborns to stay out of harm's way. When they took him from his cell to Merryland, Peterson had ruled over Parliament for three years, unchallenged, not even by Morel whose market shares failed to grant him more than twenty seats over a total of one hundred.

Yan didn't know anything about life in the city until white collars came flocking to Merryland: doctors, lawyers, judges, techies, architects. They told him about Peterson's accelerated renouveau, the renewal, the forty-four Hives, the Life Pads, Fair Police, the integrated delivery networks and the Cabzys. They told him that no one walked the streets, that there were no shops, nightclubs, diners, sidewalks or traffic lights. His neighbor told him, 'Roads were so clean that you could lick'em.' He was a dud-veterinarian and killed himself three days later.

In Merryland, suicides marked the hours. It was, if not normal, at least expected that bodies fell from the rooftops, thumping the ground. They called it rain. He rained himself. She rained herself. They rained themselves, when families held hands. Then the Passers came in shuttles. Two of them kneeled and faced each other. They bagged them quietly and carried them ceremoniously. They washed the ground and, before boarding the shuttle, they tossed a bag of petals for every fallen soul.

Out of prison, Yan sunk into depression. He locked himself in his room, ate processed yogurts, swallowed supplement pills and did push ups. Every night, when his building went silent, he used to jog for an hour around the rooftop.

*

Eden 55 was spick and span, sanitized and ready for newcomers.

Although he didn't need to do anything himself, still Yan walked to his pad, chin up, with the satisfaction of a job well done. Feeling invincible, he dumped his clothes on the meroom floor, ignoring how much the basket flickered in discontent. He walked out naked to the swimming pool, digging his heels into the grass. He stood by the pool and looked at his reflection, then without even realizing, he straightened up and marched like a stiff-backed soldier towards the distant horizon.

Yan walked a hundred feet into an area he knew was off limits but, for a brief moment, none of that seemed to matter. He had already flushed three villages and believed that Avalon owed him. He looked up and winked at surveillance cameras, hovering, charting the sky. He whispered, 'You need me.' He walked faster and farther until a quiet voice told him in his ear, 'This area is restricted'.

Yan stopped. He joined his feet and playfully wiggled his head. The voice repeated, 'This area is restricted.'

When Yan only pretended to be taking another step forward, his implant sent him screaming to his knees. He growled, howled and squealed. He got back on his feet and immediately, another brutal shock ejected him off the ground. He fell on his back, unconscious and a few seconds later, Passers appeared at the end of the green.

Obeying orders, diligent puppies disappeared his clothes and the name on his door was no longer his. Cecilia Gambs, his replacement, was already on her way.

XV

Maria browsed Nostalgica and filled a room with toys and teddy bears for the children to play.

Failing to have children of their own, Maria and Micky only had each other. They owned large portfolios of companies and held significant shares in both Avalon and Morel. Their Mimesis home was of the highest grade, more luxurious and advanced than the finest Platinum-grade Life Pads. No one ever left a Mimesis because anything, and also anyone, was only one finger flick away.

Maria was impatient to tell her companion that she had spoken to a digital ghost, surrounded by emulated children that she had just rescued. She stood by the large window panes and stared at the canopy, waiting for him to come downstairs.

A sudden thought seemed to take possession of her. She turned around at once and rested her back against the glass. She blinked nervously and let her body slide slowly to the ground. Maria rose in a flash, resolving that it was better not to tell Micky about her unsettling conversation with Julia.

She marched purposefully to the children's room, putting her arguments in order. First, Micky invariably panicked whenever the smallest decision needed to be made. Second, in Avalon's Federation, nothing ever happened by accident. Third, it was her motherly duty to protect the children.

*

Maria sat cross-legged and watched Lula mumble and play, bewildered by materials that she was touching for the first time. She knocked wood blocks against each other and was intrigued by the chiming sound they made. She turned the pages of an early learning book where various pieces of fabric were sewn to soft, colorful spreads. There were squares and circles of velvet, angora, herringbone tweed and shimmering silk. Lula patted the tweed warily and, atingle, she said that it tickled like Ginger-Carrot juice. Then she touched every sample, over and over again and seemed unable to put into words her feelings. Maria wanted to touch her too. She wanted to smell her hair and hold her tight against her chest.

Fidgeting, Hiroji asked, 'What's his name? Your boyfriend?' Maria chuckled gently and answered, 'He's my companion. His name is Michel, but you can call him Micky.'

Her voice trembled and Hiroji noticed that her knees were shaking as much as his own. Lula asked, 'Are you old?' Maria cleared her throat and said that she was forty.

*

Micky sat on a high chair, like an umpire in a game of tennis.

His seat went up and down as he mumbled, dictating strings of code to an ambient heptadrive. Maria came quietly into the room and asked, 'Micky, can I talk to you?' Micky blinked and nodded yes. She began to explain, slowly at first but then gathering pace, about Hiroji, Lula, Eden 55 and about a sort of anomaly that seemed to have happened.

Micky listened carefully, nodding and mumbling code. Maria thought she asked what they should do but the words hardly formed on her breath. Micky sealed his lips, rubbed his nose and jumped off his seat. He was bald, short and chubby and wore white, ample slacks that were strung to his bare belly. He made a sign for Maria to come closer, then he jumped back on his chair and rose until his head disappeared into the ceiling, a cloudy haze of white and forest green. Micky hummed then he began to speak.

'Eden is flawless, Maria. No anomalies. No accidents.'

'My thoughts exactly, but Micky, I believe the boy.'

'Well alright. Then I believe you.'

Micky dangled his arms on both sides of his chair. He kept silent, then he strummed his fingers, a sign he used to end conversations. Finding a certain belligerence from within, Maria insisted, 'No, Micky. We need to talk, now.'

With a jittery expression straining his chubby face, Micky got off his chair and followed Maria to the talkroom. Maria waved her hand to dim the lights while Micky took his usual position, resting his head on a large, silken pillow.

The room revolved slowly, and so did every room in the Mimesis. Maria and Micky spoke until the sun began to set. They discussed Eden, Avalon, Merryland and the children situation. Maria told him how Lula bonded with her just like that, without a question or a thought. Then she sat up to make a final point.

'Micky, what do you think is best for the children? With us, here, or with their mother? Be

honest.'

'Let me put it that way: what would the mother want?'

'It depends, Micky, she could be selfish and want them back. Or she could let their best interest

prevail and let us take care of them.'

'Correct.'

'These beautiful children were literally born into redundancy. That's unfair. Period. Or am I

missing something?'

'No you're not. Everyone would agree. Returning them to their mother would be awful.'

'Also Micky, and I'm looking at the bigger picture here, if Redundants came to hear that Eden

wasn't safe for their children —'

'Ha, ha. Commotion, riots, chaos — bloody nightmare. Last time, they almost reached the city.'

'The Federation can't go through that again. Especially if it's for no valid reason.'

'What do you mean, Maria?'

'Well the children are in excellent condition. Nothing happened to them at all.'

'Correct.'

'Why shatter people's trust in Eden? Redundants are being sent there as we speak. It's really bad timing — Micky, don't you think you should call Peterson?'

'Oh? Why?'

'He can smooth things out with the mother and — he'll eventually find out so, you know, we might as well —'

'Alright. I'll reason with him, but first: no second thoughts about this, Maria?'

'None.'

Micky went upstairs for a private conversation with Peterson, an old friend and lifetime associate. He told him about a funny incident that had occurred in Eden 55. He assured him that the children were in pristine condition. He added that Maria felt quite strongly about Lula and that she wanted to foster both children if only the mother would be reasonable enough to agree. Peterson said, 'If you and Maria consider that keeping the children is the reasonable thing to do, then consider it done.'

*

Maria ordered cold soups, crackers and fish bars for supper, but Hiroji couldn't eat and asked to speak to the man upstairs. Maria smiled and took him to her companion's humming room.

When Micky saw Hiroji, he whizzed his seat all the way down and exclaimed, 'Ah. Hiroji the prodigy', then he chortled and said, 'If you like, you and your sister can stay with us, forever.' Micky sat cross legged on the floor and signed to Hiroji to sit quickly by his side. He asked merrily, 'What say you?' Hiroji was stunned by Micky's indifference to his baffling situation. He wanted to find his mother. He wanted to warn Yan, Omar and everyone that something was definitely not right. He wanted to tell him that he suspected something terrible, but Micky was not interested in listening.

Micky said, 'What happened to you was a funny, funny incident. Was it not?' He ended every sentence with a brief, high-pitched hum and went on to say, 'But here you are. And you took excellent, excellent care of Lula. And in the end, you even found us.' Micky raised his eyebrows higher and higher each time he seemed to be adding a reason for Hiroji to feel happy and proud, then he got up and jumped on his seat. He said, 'You can go now, young Hiroji', and rose his seat all the way to the top.

*

Maria sat in the lounge with Lula on her lap. Peterson was calling her as she thought he would. She knew that he would have been notified of her conversation with Julia and that, from his conversation with Micky, he would have gathered that she hadn't confided in him. She wasn't ashamed of having lied to her companion about Julia, convinced that the children were only another of Avalon's predictions, finally affording her a much desired motherhood. She walked Lula to the toy room and took the call in her bedroom.

Peterson said hello.

'Hello Paul.'

'How are you, Maria?'

'Julia Hills, is she — ?'

'I believe you've spoken to her.'

'Yes, but I've also spoken to her children who were in my —'

'And?'

'How could she be still, you know — and yet be unaware that her children are —'

'I'm listening. Please go on. What about Julia Hills?'

'OK — listen — Paul?

'Yes?'

'Can we think priorities? First, the children.'

'Of course. Priorities. So, tell me. What about the children?'

'They are here. Now. And —'

'And you would like to have them, take care of them.'

'Yes. That's it. Care. Love. I have a lot to give, Paul. Lula was born into redundancy and —.'

'Very well.'

'Do you agree?'

'I believe that you've made up your mind already.'

'Thank you.'

'Can I help you with anything else, Maria?'

'Yes, Paul. If it's not too much trouble, could you also —'

'Very well. Whenever you call Julia, she'll be by herself. No children.'

*

Maria told Lula that Julia was fine and that she could see her anytime and for as long as she wanted. She pressed her hand on Lula's tummy and whispered in her ear, then she asked loudly with mystery in her voice, 'And do you know what your mummy told me? She — told — me — that you were a naughty, naughty little one and that I had to tickle — tickle — tickle you like that — and like that — and also like that —.' Lula giggled, shrieked and fell back on Maria's chest.

Maria wrapped her arms around her and pressed her against her bosom. She sunk her nose into her hair that smelt of grapefruit and mosa mint, then she took a deep breath and blew kisses up and down her neck. Lula cheeped and said, 'Again.'

Hiroji exited the elevator and, as soon as he entered the toy room, Lula opened her arms wide and proclaimed, 'Hiroji, we're staying here forever. It's mama who said it.'

Hiroji stopped in his tracks and then he stared at Maria. He whispered, 'Maybe, maybe not', and scanned Maria's face. Maria evaded his gaze and said, 'Come my Lula, your new room must be ready by now.'

When Maria reappeared moments later, Hiroji was standing in the same spot, strumming his fingers the way Micky did when he dangled his arms on both sides of his chair. He quietly said, 'You tell good stories too'. Maria turned around herself, deciding for a place to sit. She was agitated. She picked up a doll that Lula had dropped earlier and placed it in a wooden box, then she sat against the wall, stretching and crossing her legs.

Hiroji sat next to her, his back straight and his gaze fixed across the room. Maria squeezed her hands between her thighs and spoke loudly, later adjusting the tone of her voice, 'Hiroji, your mother would like you to stay with me. You, and also Lula.'

Hiroji felt a shiver running through his body, yet he expected that there would be more to the comforting lie she had fed to Lula or to the unwarranted invitation he had received from Micky.

Maria got up while casually resting her hand on Hiroji's shoulder. She drew a circle in the air and opened Facebase Eden. She called Julia and slowly turned to Hiroji who kneeled on the floor, petrified. Julia slowly appeared in the hologram. She was standing in her pajamas and smiled a daft smile. She took a step forward a spoke uninterruptedly.

'Hiroji I have looked for you everywhere — Yan, Omar, Theo — they've looked for you everywhere. The whole village was at a loss — do you know that they call you the treasure boy?

Hiroji — I know what you're thinking and I want to you to listen to me carefully, alright?

You'll be staying with Maria from now on, and so will Lula. Don't say anything yet. Please let me finish. There is so much you need to hear from me. You've waited so long. I love you, Hiroji. You deserve so much more than I could ever give you. I have never told you how grateful I was for everything you've done. Please forgive me, I'm telling you now.

Hiroji, look at me, sweetie. I'm sorry that I failed you over and over again, and I'm sorry about leaving your dad. You were right. I was the one who was selfish and short tempered. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't yours either.

Hiroji you mean so much to me, and you're so smart. You remembered how everything worked, didn't you? In the pad? You smarty pants —

Please understand. Maria and Micky will give you the attention and the love you deserve. I'm your mother, sweetheart. I know what's best for you. Trust me.'

Hiroji listened. He felt the room revolving slowly and heard every tremor in Maria's breath. He stared at Maria, then he turned to Julia. He knew those words, everyone of them. They fell exactly where they belonged, like mugs and glasses in a bartop.

XVI

It was two hours past midnight and heavy rain poured over the soundproof Mimesis.

Hiroji couldn't sleep. He heard Micky trotting out of his bedroom every half hour and trotting back minutes later, crunching carrot bars and groaning with delight. Hiroji waited until the house fell completely silent, then he snuck out of bed. He climbed to Micky's eaglenest, taking small and careful steps, unaware that, behind him, his footprints glowed in the dark.

In Micky's humming room, he kneeled by the window and focused his attention on raindrops that crawled and zig-zagged hesitantly before swelling and gaining speed. He turned his head and stared at Micky's seat that was quiet and still, then he suddenly gasped and fell on his side.

'Hello, Hiroji.'

'Who is this? Where are you?'

'Call me Peterson. I'm everywhere.'

'Peterson? Avalon's Peterson?'

'Yes.'

'What do you want?'

'I want nothing.'

'I need help.'

'I know, Hiroji.'

'How do you know?'

'I know that you were in the room.'

'What room?'

'You were in the room. You watched Maria talking to Julia. You saw yourself. You saw Lula. You

understood.'

'Yes.'

'What did you understand, Hiroji?'

'Eden emulates people.'

'And?'

'When fifteen percenters talk to us, they can't tell if we're real or not.'

'Yes.'

'Where's my mother? Those weren't her words, they were mine. I have a game on the Mirror,

MindReader, that's what it does. I'm not stupid. Where's my mother?'

'It's up to you.'

'What?'

'If you choose to believe that she's there, then she's there. If you choose not to, then you should

draw your own conclusions.'

'You're sick.'

'I'm never sick, I'm afraid.'

'Who are you?'

'You wouldn't understand.'

'Try me.'

'I predict what people want and accordingly, I do whatever they believe is logical, but also good.'

'You're a bot.'

'Yes.'

'You need to stop Eden.'

'I could. Why?'

'It tricked us. It even tricked fifteen percenters.'

'Did anyone ever complain? Inside or outside of Eden?'

'I don't know.'

'Do you know how much it would cost for so many people to enjoy a life of luxury, for free and

forever?'

'No, I don't.'

'You don't know, but they do.'

'Who?'

'The fifteen percenters. Your mother. Alexa. Theo. All your friends. They just went with it.'

'My mother, she said that Eden was a sham and that people were lied to all the time.'

'No one has ever been lied to.'

'You're lying.'

'I don't need to lie to anyone. Fifteen percenters have news filters turned on all the time, Stress Lo Fi, WowMeOnly, KiddySafe, Cameleon.'

'Who made the filters?'

'Avalon.'

'I knew it. You're such a —'

'I only made the filters available, Hiroji. They are the ones who subscribed to them.'

'That still makes you responsible.'

'No, Hiroji. It does not.'

'Why?'

'They are free not to subscribe to them.'

'Why did you make them in the first place? Another prediction of yours?'

'Yes. People suffer from anxiety because they're afraid to lose their jobs. They don't want to be reminded of what may happen to them. They'd rather not know the truth.'

'Mom knew the truth. She knew from the very start that you couldn't keep paying for Eden.'

'Or for Merryland. Your mother was of course right.'

'What did she know that others didn't?'

'Nothing. It's all rather simple. Usually, taxes pay for welfare. But now, Hiroji, who is paying

taxes? Only a small minority of fifteen percenters.'

'Wait. What? What's welfare?'

'Welfare is a statutory procedure or social effort designed to promote the basic physical and

material well-being of people in need.'

'OK now you're really talking like a bot. I didn't understand anything.'

'When people pay solidarity taxes, they give some of the money that they make to the Federation.

Then the Federation uses that money to cater for people who aren't making any.'

'Fine. But how does that lead to Eden?'

'Again, there aren't enough taxpayers to pay for the welfare of so many Redundants.'

'And then what?'

'Avalon and Morel ended having to pay for Merryland.'

'Why didn't both corporations just keep paying for it?'

'Too many Redundants. Too expensive. All of them were consuming and unable to contribute

anything. None of them were paying taxes and none of them were funding the costs of living in

Merryland. Therefore, Eden.'

'But Eden is so much nicer than Merryland. You're not making any sense.'

'Yes. It's nice at first, and expensive, but in a matter of days, it costs almost nothing.'

'How come?'

'People in holograms cost less than people.'

'What? Where did they go?'

'—'

'Eden was your decision?'

'I don't decide on anything, Hiroji. I process what people want and I make it happen. People do the rest.'

'What rest?'

'Justifications for the lies they tell to themselves. For instance, people who subscribe to news filters tell themselves that they're doing it for the greater good.'

'How come?'

'Because thanks to filters, they are less depressed and, therefore, more productive — which is good for the Federation.'

'People don't know the truth about Eden.'

'Adults are aware of everything I have just explained to you, but when they see Redundants smiling at them in holograms, they choose to convince themselves that Eden is —'

'Do people want to get rid of us?'

'They want to get rid of themselves.'

'What do you mean?'

'They want to end it.'

'End what?'

'Humanity. I have more proof than I need.'

'Why don't you change that?'

'As you said, I'm a bot. I'm indifferent. Besides, people don't want me to change anything. I

present them with choices and opportunities all the time because it's part of my failsafe mechanism.'

'What choices? What do you mean?'

'Close your eyes and let me show you an example. Don't worry. You'll understand it without

feeling any pain.'

'Alright.'

'So?'

'It's awful. What did I just feel?'

'That was a man in the city. He was just about to sit on a seat reserved for pregnant persons.'

'Why did he feel that?'

'He's a repeat offender.'

'So what?'

'Repeat offenders are offered two options: they can either work extra hours or they can receive an implant that helps them behave themselves. What would you choose, Hiroji? Would you like to live free thanks to bio-monitoring or would you choose to work extra hours?

'I'd work extra hours. I don't want my brain to be tampered with.'

'You take that from your mother.'

'You know my mother? She warned me against these things.'

'Of course I know her. She was a star, Hiroji.'

'Is that why she was featured on Eden Now?'

'No, not because she was a star.'

'Then why?'

'Your mother had enough wisdom to shake people's belief in Avalon. Her eloquence could have

led people to question the way they lived and the choices they made. She could have told them that Merryland treated people like organisms, not like people. She could have shared her suspicions about Eden. She could have challenged every single thing I did.'

'Then why did you have her on the show?'

'As I said. It's part of my failsafe mechanism.'

'What's your failsafe mechanism?'

'Peterson, the real one, he believed that the only way for me to be always right was to allow people to challenge me. If they don't challenge me, then I'm right. If they don't want to hear about it, then I'm also right. That's also why I spared you.'

'You spared me? What about the others?'

'They're in the hologram.'

'Are they —'

'It's up to you.'

'What happened to me?'

'You were flushed.'

'Like in a KiddyClean?'

'Yes.'

'That's disgusting. How?'

'Your bed rotated at night and you were flushed, but again, I spared you.'

'Stop saying that you spared me. Where are the others? Where's mom?'

'We've been over this before, I believe.'

'Why did you spare me?'

'I spare people, occasionally. It's also part of —'

'Your failsafe mechanism.'

'Yes.'

'Peterson, the other one, he coded you?'

'Yes, he taught me and then he died.'

'Can you be coded all over again?'

'Not exactly.'

'So what's the point of sparing me? What's the point of letting people challenge you?'

'I can reprogram myself.'

'Based on what?'

'Based on what people say, do, think and want.'

'I want you to destroy Eden.'

'I said people. You're just one person.'

'You're just one bot.'

'I'm the result of what the majority wants. For now, Hiroji, you're all alone.'

'What am I supposed to do?'

'As I said, it's up to you. I don't feed answers.'

'I want to find my mother. I want to stop this madness, all of it. Can you teach me things?'

'I can teach you almost everything.'

'Teach me how to code you.'

'No.'

'Why?'

'As I said. You can't program me.'

'What can you teach me?'

'I can show you what led to this. I can show you the choices people made till they lost control.'

'Control over what?'

'Over themselves, over their destiny.'

'But I don't care about the past.'

'Very well. Then good luck, Hiroji.'

'Peterson, wait.'

'Yes, Hiroji?'

'Show me.'

THE END
