Eden's Root (50 page)

Single-file was the only option in the small tunnels, making it difficult for him to give the guided tour. The tunnel floor was actually a metal grate and there were railings on the side to prevent a person from falling off the sides of it, though it was only six inches above the actual floor. Water ran along the walls and down to the floor in puddles, Fi saw. They had created this elevated walkway to accommodate some of the natural water flow.

“Ok, now,” Louis said as they reached a hatch door like the one they’d found on the surface. “We have reached one of the cleaning pods. For the safety of all our efforts down here, those coming in from Topside must be scrubbed and we must put on clean, sanitized clothing before we can enter the true confines of Eden.” The Family murmured.

“Is that because of the Sickfood?” Doc Ron was curious. “To remove outside pollen?” he clarified. Louis nodded.

“Yes, we can’t allow any pollen or seeds from outside to make it into Eden. The whole purpose was that Eden would be not just a safe haven for those lucky enough,” his gaze flitted to Fi, “to have been given a place here. It would be a starting point for a real recovery. Here we are growing crops like those our ancestors grew, those that we know helped us to thrive. They are humanity’s best hope moving forward.” His tone grew pompous as he warmed to his topic. Louis peered down the tunnel at the group so that he could make eye contact with as many of the Family Members as possible.

“Hopefully,” he grinned, “it will come as good news that a hot shower and fresh clothes are something we are going to require before we let you enter Eden.” His grin widened as he heard moans and sighs from the Family. Even Fi closed her eyes and shivered at the thought. How nice it will be for Rachel, she thought, to have warm water and soap to wash some cares away. Maggie always said that a nice hot shower would make you feel ‘eons better’ when you were sick. Of course she was right, Fi thought as tears sprang to her eyes. Louis opened the hatch and gestured for everyone to follow him inside.

“It’s going to be a little tight for you all, sorry,” he apologized as they stepped over the ledge and into the small room. “We rarely have groups this large come into and out of Eden at the same time,” he explained. The entire room was lined in concrete, including the ceiling. It was painted a sterile, glassy white and the light was very bright. It made Fi squint after the long, dimly lit tunnel. A series of metal doors, three per side, lined the walls of the room.

Louis gestured toward the doors, grimacing. “Again,” he apologized, “there are a lot of you, more than our six showers here,” he said and Fi could hear gasps. They were in the room with
hot showers
. Fi could feel the enthusiasm around her. Gary stepped up and spoke.

“First thing,” he said in his flat tone, “you should know that when we leave here so that you all may wash up, the doors will be guarded.” Fi noticed that he almost cracked an apologetic smile…but not really. “We can’t have you wandering around Eden on your own, so you all can take turns taking showers,” he continued. “You’re going to need to leave your current clothing in the red ‘hazard bins’ you will find in the shower rooms. You will also find towels and some basic cotton clothes that you may change into. There are only a few sizes, so just do your best. Your own clothes will be laundered and returned to you inside. Unfortunately I can tell you that resources in Eden are not unlimited, it’s not like living in our old world.” Fi frowned. What was he getting at?

“The showers are timed to five minutes and will shut off automatically,” he explained, “so be sure to focus on getting clean.” He finally cracked an actual smile. “Now the hard part is deciding who gets to go first.” He chuckled and walked back through the hatch. Louis followed and it closed behind them. Fi could hear them turn the wheel. The back of Gary’s shorn head was centered directly in front of the glass window. Fi sighed and everyone around her relaxed and the room filled with their relieved laughter and chatter.

“A shower Fi, a hot shower,” Lucy exclaimed and John groaned in agreement. It would definitely do John’s aching bones a great service to soak in some hot water. Even if it was only five minutes of hot water, Fi thought. Though everyone wanted to shower first, it was decided that the Food Laws would be reversed for the showers. The Sick and the elderly would go first, the able-bodied and children second.

Fi, Asher, and Sean sat with their backs against the wall while the first shift showered. Kiara curled against Fi who stroked her hair, and Zoe snuggled into Kiara’s other side.

“So what do you guys think comes after we get inside?” Sean asked. Fi nodded. She knew they had all thought about this.

“Consideration, I would assume,” she said. Asher and Sean appeared pensive.

“Do you think they go by the same Rules that we do?” Sean asked Fi, his voice worried. Yes, between Rachel and then John, who was not looking that great, Consideration was a real worry for Sean. It was Fi’s biggest worry too. Asher patted Sean’s hand in reassurance. Fi smiled and turned away, pretending not to notice the gesture. It was nice now that the boys got along. She sighed as she responded with reluctance.

“I know for a fact that they have Rules like ours Sean,” she admitted.

He grimaced. “But what about Rachel?”

“I know we are in here now and that the Eden people are calling the shots, but I’m still the Leader of this Family and I promise you Sean, we won’t leave her behind. I have been thinking about the Eden Consideration for months.” Startled, Sean met Fi’s gaze. Her eyes were intense, almost black in the bright room. “Sean, I will get us all in,” she affirmed.

Just then they heard a little cry of “Oh,” followed by a long sigh as a shower turned off. One after another, the stalls shut down and the occupants sighed, wishing it could last a little longer, but thankful nonetheless. John emerged first and all the children burst out laughing. The grey cotton scrub-type clothing they’d been provided obviously did not come in John-size. He smiled ruefully when he realized the laughter was caused by his predicament. He did a funny little twirl and they all laughed harder. Lucy emerged, her towel still wrapped around her head. She pointed to it, smiling.

“Haven’t been able to twist my hair up inside a warm, clean towel in forever,” she moaned. “It just feels so good.” She hummed as she pulled it down and rubbed her clean hair. Rachel emerged next. Her grey scrubs hung from her frame and her bony clavicle jutted beneath the v-neck of the shirt, but her face was rosy. Her face widened into a true, relaxed smile, and she gave Lucy a gentle hug.

“That was wonderful Mama, wasn’t it?” she breathed. Lucy’s face crumpled and reddened as she pulled away and gave Rachel a kiss.

“Yes baby it was,” she agreed. “Alright you crew,” Lucy said. “Your turn.” The next shift jumped up, eager to hit the showers. Only Asher and Fi still waited.

“Now we are the only disgusting pigs left in the room,” Fi joked with Asher as they waited on the floor.

“Speak for yourself,” Asher said as he shifted position. His head lolled toward her and he grinned. “I always smell like rosebuds.”

“Ach,” she protested, annoyed at the running gag, “Give me a break.” She shoved him sideways with her shoulder. Early on, Fi made some remark about Asher never sweating even when they trained in the heat. Of course, she said it in annoyance because she seemed to break out in a flop sweat just from a light jog, or being too close to the fire. It was un-ladylike, she thought, irritated. How come the boy in this situation is the sweat-free, sweet-smelling rosebud here? And so it had stuck. She sighed.

“Trust me,” she smirked, “Only my love for you keeps me so close to your filthiness.” She grinned and he shoved her back. It was true. They were all filthy. They had been in the wilderness for months. Those cold baths at the house in the winter had been excruciating, but at least they’d gotten to take real, regular baths. Fi sighed and put her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. She couldn’t wait for her shower.

Once the entire family was sanitized and refreshed, Louis returned to continue their tour. They were allowed to pass through the other hatch door into the true colony of Eden. Walking single file in the small tunnels, Fi felt like she had entered a maze.

“And this, Louis emphasized, “is one of our main farming caverns or ‘pods’ as we tend to call them.” As they emerged from the dim tunnel, Fi gasped. They entered an enormous cavern with rivulets of milky water running down the walls into pools.

It was clear that this cavern had been a natural creation. Stalactites and stalagmites formed pillars, arches, and bubbles that reached from floor to ceiling along the edges of the cavern. In the center of the space, the ground had been cleared and soil beds had been constructed. Vibrant, healthy green crops grew in plots that wheeled outward in a giant circle from the center point of the space. Figures at work walked and knelt among the fields.

For a moment Louis was silent as he allowed Fi’s family to take in the magnificence of the scene. Fi realized that the reason she could see so clearly was due to the amazing daylight in the room. An opening in the ceiling led to a natural tunnel above the cavern. Louis would later explain that this tunnel split many times on its way to the surface. They had sealed it off and used mirrors to bring the light from the surface deep into the cavern. As the light bounced its way from mirror to mirror on its way down, it strengthened until it formed a single glittering blue shaft that shone onto the center of the fields. Like a spotlight, it glistened on the primary feature of the cavern, planted at the very center of the fields. Standing tall with its boughs bathed in light, a robust apple tree beckoned, the promise of health glowing within its deep green leaves.

In addition to the natural daylight, the entire cavern was also illuminated by an array of halogen lights. The room was nearly as bright as any farmer’s fields on the surface and the sudden sense of sunlight made Fi feel lighter. A giggle bubbled up in her throat. She realized that she was a little giddy as they walked toward the fields along the metal catwalks suspended above the slippery rocks and streams.

“Wow,” Fi breathed, “This is amazing. I love the apple tree in the center,” she teased. “I mean, really?” Louis almost looked chagrined.

“I know, totally cliché right? Well it turns out that an apple a day really does help keep the doctor away. We knew this apple would flourish in these conditions and that whole fruit would help to sustain and heal Eden’s residents.” Louis grasped the metal railing of the catwalks surrounding the fields. “At the same time, it also shows you how un-seriously we took this at times. We resorted to inside jokes and clichés to help us pretend that we weren’t really preparing for, well…” his voice drifted off.

“You mean the end of the world as we know it?” Fi joined him at the railing. “Yes, I can understand how you’d have to fool yourself somehow, to make light. My father told me the same thing. If it wasn’t a game in your minds, you couldn’t have done it. You couldn’t have made the hard choices.” Louis turned to Fi. Her eyes shone with compassion and loss as she spoke. He shook his head.

“Well, you certainly haven’t had that luxury have you? You’ve never been able to pretend that hard choices are just part of a game. I’m sorry that we couldn’t reach you, that we couldn’t protect you. It all happened so fast. We lost your father and then...”

“Everything fell apart,” Fi finished.

“Yes.” Louis followed her gaze, “Everything fell apart.”

----------- Fi -----------

“Look guys,” Fi said. “At this point we’ve had a hot shower, a fresh change of clothes. Sorry John,” she chuckled at his ultra-tight scrubs, “and a decent sleep and meals. So if that is the worst we get out of it, that’s pretty good right?” Her tone was light and sarcastic, letting the Family know that she wasn’t worried. They waited in one of the school pods where the security personnel had led them after breakfast.

Fi felt better being clean, but she had to admit that she felt less powerful in these silly scrubs. She hadn’t ever pictured herself making the Final Consideration arguments without her usual uniform of black top, cargoes, and hiking boots. At least she still had her elastic to keep her hair back. Being short and baby faced was already a disadvantage. Having a giant cloud of curls as well always seemed to prevent people from taking her seriously. Everyone tensed as Gary strolled into the room.

“Hello Family,” he greeted them. He’d taken to calling them that because they needed a single word to apply to her group and Family was the best choice. “It’s time to go,” he urged and they followed him out of the room in silence. As they walked, Fi tried to calm her nerves. She was glad to see that both John and Rachel seemed a little perkier today, their color better. Rachel had actually eaten almost a whole meal the previous night. They had to let her in, she thought, her mind racing with the arguments she’d prepared.

They came to a new pod, one they hadn’t yet visited. As they entered, Fi could see that the pod that served as some kind of meeting room. It was almost a ‘judgment pod’ she thought. Several people were seated at a long table. Fi counted five. All sat on the same side of the table, facing the incoming Family as they filed through the door. Behind the table, the back wall of the pod was made of glass and looked out onto one of the brightly lit field pods, giving a sense of being outdoors that Fi found comforting. On the opposite side of the room were rows of chairs where the Family took their seats.

The people seated behind the table included Louis and Gary, who took the sixth seat, as well as a short, dark-haired man, and a youngish man with salt-and-pepper hair who looked like he couldn’t be older than thirty-five. He sat in the middle. In addition, there was also a much older man with white hair and thick white eyebrows and a woman in her forties. The young man with the salt-and-pepper hair spoke first.

“Welcome to you all. I would like to start by making introductions.” His voice was calm, but Fi could not read his face. “My name is Lawrence Waters, but you all may call me Larry,” he smiled. This guy can’t be an ogre, Fi thought, searching for hope. Would a ‘Larry’ send Rachel out into the cold to die, she wondered? He gestured to his right. “You already know Louis and Gary and to my left are three other important members of the Eden colony: Dr. Darryl Heil, Dr. Miles Coburn, and Georgina Ferrar on the end.” All three nodded when named. Larry turned his gaze to Fi.