The Brave New World 28 The Army Arrives

They spent almost an entire day taking turns to build their new home in the New World. They ended up replicating the goat five times. They would have done it many times more, but the animal gradually grew panicked, and escaped just as Samir was preparing to implant it for the sixth time.

They had just enough goat hides to make clothes for themselves. This turned out to be difficult. It was a while before they managed to find a couple of stones with edges sharp enough to cut the hides. It took them a long time to dress the carca.s.ses of the butchered goats, get rid of the entrails, and sc.r.a.pe the hides clean of meat and fat.

They spent almost a whole day taking turns: while one of them slept on the hiber bed, the other kept watch on what was going on around their home. Pretty soon, it became hard for them to tell which life, which world was more real. The events that were taking place on Earth certainly seemed surreal.

They could hear the rattle of distant shots, and Rani saw a soldier ride a bicycle past the small fields surrounding their house. He was in a great hurry - bent over the handlebars of his bike, he threw a quick glance at the glowing cube and at the body lying next to it. It didn't make him slow down or stop, if anything it made him pedal faster.

Their neighborhood seemed completely deserted. Samir thought people had been scared away by the appearance of the cube.

"The storm, then the cube - they probably thought the aliens were about to invade," he told Rani.

"I thought so too, for a moment."

"I did as well, to be honest. But just for a short moment. However, remember that we are educated people. I don't think any of our neighbors went to college, like we did. I think many of them did not even finish primary school. Remember what they were like? Some that had recently moved here from the country couldn't even read or write. They were all really simple people. They got scared, and ran away."

"Some didn't," Rani said pointedly, glancing in the direction of the body lying in the field next to the cube.

"Yes. I wonder what had happened, and why he was killed."

They found out the next morning.

They'd spent most of the night working hard in the New World. They finally had clothes: goatskin s.h.i.+fts that reached halfway down their thighs. They'd also made crude shoes for themselves. Both the s.h.i.+fts and the shoes were held together by narrow strips of goatskin that had been threaded through holes in the hide, and tied.

When the soldiers came, they were both at home and wide awake. Their second selves in the New World were busy building a crude hut: it would take a while. From time to time, they checked on the progress being made.

They had just sat down to eat a meal of rice and greens when they heard voices outside.

Samir looked out of the window and saw three soldiers walking across the field outside. Two of them stopped by the cube, looking curiously at the dead man on the ground. The third soldier walked up to the unfinished house. He walked inside, and they could hear him stop in front of their door. It was the only door in the concrete sh.e.l.l of the unfinished house.

He opened it without knocking.

He had a flamboyant mustache and the green beret on his head was tilted at a rakish angle. The chevrons on his uniform indicated a sergeant, and his hand was on the holstered pistol on his hip.

"Who are you?" he demanded. Before they had time to answer, he asked sharply:

"Did you kill that man outside?"

"No!" cried Rani. Samir shook his head.

"Then who did?"

They explained that they had been hiding, too terrified to even look out of the window because of that cube, the glowing cube that had appeared just a few steps from their home. There had been shots and shouts and they could smell the smoke of burning houses. They had hunkered down, praying no one would hurt them. And they were terrified of the cube.

The sergeant seemed to be at least partly satisfied with what he'd heard. But then he said:

"You weren't afraid to take items from the cube." He raised his hand, and pointed at the stack of implant kits and scrolls next to the two hiber beds.

"I took them today," Samir said. "The cube had been there for days, and nothing bad happened."

"So you went and read the instructions on the cube and helped yourselves?"

"It said to put your hand inside to receive those things. We wanted to see if it really worked."

"The cube and everything inside are the property of the state," said the sergeant. "You are thieves. You were lucky not to get shot, like that man outside your house. We are under orders to fire at any looters we encounter."

"But there was nothing on the cube to indicate it was property of the state!"

"And that's why I won't arrest you. You are forbidden to take anything else from the cube. And you will turn over everything you've taken. There will be a vehicle coming before long to collect it. In the meantime, you are to remain here and stay available for further questioning."

"Of course," said Samir. "We'll do everything you say. But could you please tell us what's going on? We were too scared to go out, and find out for ourselves."

He looked at the sergeant as he spoke, and made sure it was a look full of admiration. Rani had caught on quickly. She said:

"We are most grateful you came here. We were so frightened. You must be very brave."

The sergeant looked at her sharply, but saw nothing except admiration for his courage. He said:

"There's a national crisis. We have experienced a complete power outage. Together with the appearance of all those cubes - "

"All those cubes? There are more?"

"Many more. There has been an outbreak of general panic. Criminal individuals are trying to profit from that panic. But everything is now under control. Electric power will return soon, and all wrongdoers will be prosecuted."

"We didn't do anything wrong," said Rani.

"You did. You took items from the cube. They are property of the state. But as there was no clear warning on the cube, you shall not be prosecuted provided you turn over everything that you'd taken."

"We will, we will," said Samir, thanking the G.o.ds that he and Rani had hidden the implants under their hair. Had the sergeant noticed the glowing blue dots, he would have not let them off so easily.

"Sir," said Rani, putting her hands together as if in prayer, "Could one of your soldiers escort me to the communal tap? We're almost out of water."

"You have nothing to fear. This area is safe."

"Are the shops open?"

"Not yet. But they will be, soon. Like I said, the situation is under control."

"We have very little food left."

"The army will provide emergency supplies to everyone threatened with starvation. Are you threatened with starvation? You look well fed, to me."

"We've eaten almost all the food we had."

"You are now under the protection of the army," the sergeant said pompously. "No one will starve. If there's an emergency and you require help, I authorize you to speak to the sentries guarding the cube. But you must not make any frivolous requests."

"We won't. Thank you very much, sir."

"Thank you. You've probably saved our lives," said Samir.

The sergeant raised his hand as if to give his mustache a twirl, but thought the better of it and dropped it back on the b.u.t.t of his holstered gun. He said:

"Very well. I shall instruct my men to provide you with a.s.sistance if needed. But remember: no frivolous requests!"

"No."

"Certainly not."

"Very well," said the sergeant again, and left. They heard him talking to the soldiers outside.

Soon after that, he left on his bicycle. The two soldiers he'd left to guard the cube dragged the body to the side of the road and left it there, presumably to await pickup. Then they returned to the cube. They seemed to be wary of it; they took care not to stand too close.

Samir wondered about the sergeant's words. He'd said a vehicle would be along to pick up the items he and Rani had taken from the cube. But they hadn't seen a single vehicle over the past few days, ever since the storm.

"Rani," he said.

"Yes?"

"We must hide the implant kits. Not all, we'll have to leave some for the soldiers when they come to collect what we've taken from the cube. But we must keep as many as we can. And at least two hiber beds, and a couple of scrolls. But where can we put them?"

"We'll talk about it in a moment. I must check on the Rani over there. I think she's trying to tell me something."

They both sat down away from the window and the soldiers' prying eyes, and rubbed their implants.

And although they did not say it out loud, they both wished they could go to the New World and stay there forever.

In spite of all the hards.h.i.+ps, it was a much nicer place.

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