The Deep (9 page)

“I wouldn’t mind a beer right now,” Walt
sourly comments, looking at his father. William nods in
agreement.

“Beer?” Tony parrots.

“Yeah. It’s an alcoholic beverage made of
barley,” I explain flatly.

Tony shakes his head. “We don’t consume
alcohol in Dartmoor. It’s only used to disinfect wounds.”

“Because?” William wants to know.

“Alcohol consumption triggers violence.”

We are all quiet. “Yeah, I can imagine people
don’t want to get drunk and lose their temper here,” Walt then
comments sharply.

Tony looks at us one by one with a serious
face. “I know it must all seem very strange to you, but there’s an
explanation. After the old world was destroyed, new leaders
emerged. People with ideals based on peace and nonviolence. People
who wanted to make sure that wars like that would never be fought
again.” He takes a deep breath. “Gideon, our first leader, believed
that our community could only stay true to its ideals if we set out
to destroy violence and aggression root and branch. That’s what his
book, the New Testament, says. It taught us what Jesus thought of
violence and animosity. He disapproved of those things. He even
told us to love our enemies.”

“So does everybody agree with the way you’ve
implemented this wisdom?” William inquires in total shock.

“All the people in our cities sign a manifest
when they turn eighteen. In it, they promise they won’t use
violence to solve conflict. And we carefully observe all children
and teenagers under eighteen to find out if there are any
aggressive ones among them, so we can educate them. Should someone
turn to violence after they signed the manifest, he or she is
Purged, so our society remains true to its norms and values. And
this way, violent tendencies are also weeded out because the
aggressors won’t pass them on to any offspring.”

“Holy Agnes,” Walt whispers. “Now I
understand why you were so shocked by what happened to Praed in
Hope Harbor.” He told me that Tony was utterly devastated after the
incident, and now I get why. Henry was equally frozen with fear
when Saul’s henchmen dragged him out of his cell. In all
probability, these people have never witnessed or experienced real
violence. The minute hostility rears its ugly head, it is nipped in
the bud with a friendly smile and a merciless needle.

“But Tony!” I hiss. “Surely you don’t agree
with the way things are done around here?” I shoot him a searching
look. Somehow it doesn’t feel like his explanation about Gideon’s
teachings are spoken from the heart.

Tony leans a bit closer. “In Bodmin, things
are less strict,” he divulges in a low voice. “In my city, the
mayor issues three warnings before taking action. But President
Jacob doesn’t know that, and we’d like to keep it that way. Before
I left for Penzance, I’d just started up a new project with the
mayor to help and support teenagers and young adults with
behavioral issues. I’m a youth counselor. And I think we should try
to re-educate these people, not make them disappear.”

“But that’s a radical point of view,” William
concludes.

“Yes, it is.”

“Why is there a fence around Dartmoor
County?” I blurt out. “How does that help anyone?”

“It’s their way to keep out strangers who
don’t share their ideals,” Tony replies. “And sometimes – people
escape. Especially here. They run off before they can get arrested
and Purged, to disappear into the poisonous lands beyond the fence.
And the leaders are afraid they might be back to take revenge later
on.”

“So these people willingly expose themselves
to the old world full of sickness and radiation to avoid being
executed here?”

“More or less.”

“Well, that’s not exactly consistent with the
tenet of loving your enemies,” I remark bitterly.

Tony shakes his head. “Jesus meant to say you
shouldn’t take revenge on people who sinned against you, but
forgive them instead. If you don’t, things will escalate. But if
someone who already signed the manifest breaks the rules, the
guards are allowed to step in and take action.”

Just then, the waitress puts down a tray
filled with food and we all fall silent. The friendly smile that
appears on her face as she hands me my apple juice makes me shiver
all of a sudden. Anything could be hiding behind that smile. For
all I know she ratted out her neighbor to the guards for shouting
too loudly during an argument.

“The majority of people in Dartmoor are very
happy and content,” Tony says softly. “They think it makes sense to
eradicate aggression this way.”

“What about the people who don’t think it
makes sense?” Walt objects. “People like Sam?”

Tony casts down his gaze. “I’m sorry,” he
just says. “This is how we live, and let’s be honest – there hasn’t
been any conflict, armed or otherwise, since Dartmoor and Bodmin
were founded. Everyone has what they need. There is no hunger, no
rebellion, no crying, no pain.”

Those last few words seem to be this county’s
motto. I bite my lip to stop myself from verbally attacking Tony
again and tell him that Sam evidently did suffer from pain and
crying when they grabbed him and put him to death. It’s no use
blaming Tony for this. He didn’t come up with the idea. Besides,
he’s sort of a rebel himself, trying to ease the rules together
with Bodmin’s mayor.

“I want to leave this place,” I snap. “As
soon as possible. Early morning. Let’s just get to Moretonhampstead
and have a look at those books about the old world. I don’t feel
comfortable here anymore.”

“Ditto,” Walt agrees.

“Same goes for me,” William grumbles.

Tony nods. “I’ll make sure we can leave at
nine. Are you sure everybody wants to come along and leave so
soon?”

“Obviously,” I mumble.

Tony should have warned us. Who in his right
mind wants to stay in a city with such terrifying laws?

As it turns out, I am wrong about everybody’s
right mind.

When I get to the hotel that evening and go
upstairs to the room I share with Padma, she pulls me inside, her
eyes shining excitedly.

“Leia!” she says, breathless. “I’m going on a
date.” She flutters her eyelids.

“Huh?” I say. “Who with?”

“His name’s Jack. He works here. He said I
could stay with him for free if I want to look around Dartmoor for
a bit longer.”

I raise an eyebrow. “For free? Are you sure
he doesn’t want
anything
in return?”

Padma blushes. “Come on. It’s not like
that.”

I impatiently rub my forehead and sit down on
the bed. “I bet Jack is a nice guy, but have you taken a good look
at what this city is like? You do know what happened to that guy in
the square, don’t you?”

“Yes. I do.” Padma gives me a serious look.
“But it seems he knew perfectly well that he was breaking the law.
And it was over in a heartbeat. It didn’t hurt. I mean, if anybody
broke one of Saul’s rules, he or she would be beaten and tortured
for hours with an audience to watch the proceedings. And they
brutally killed Henry with a sword.” She restlessly worries the hem
of her dress. “I just want to live in a place without violence,”
she admits, almost inaudibly. Sudden tears roll down her
cheeks.

“Oh, Padma.” I get up and pull her into my
arms. “I understand you’ve seen your share of fighting, but do you
really think Dartmoor has found the best solution? I don’t
know.”

“You can leave tomorrow, if you want. I’ll be
fine. And there’s more people who want to stay. Jinn and Winda, for
example.”

That shuts me up and makes me really think.
Am I really the only one who feels something isn’t right about the
way things are run in Dartmoor? Or am I missing something crucially
beneficial about their means of keeping the peace?

“We’ll be back soon,” I say. “Tomorrow we’ll
visit the library in Moretonhampstead, but after that the plan is
to go to Bodmin, and we’ll pass by here. You shouldn’t rush into
any decisions about staying here.”

Padma smiles. “Okay, thanks. But don’t you
think it’s wonderful, the way total strangers are being welcomed
into the community here? That never would have happened back on
Tresco if a whole troupe of Fools had shown up in Newexter.”

“If you stay, you’ll have to sign the
manifest,” I warn her. “When you turn eighteen, anyway.”

“Manifest?” Padma repeats.

“Yes, that’s the document in which they lay
down the rules you should adhere to. Every adult breaking those
rules by being aggressive will be Purged.”

“Oh.” She frowns a little. “I get that. Well,
I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I’ve got a few years left
to get the knack of their law system if I really want to stay
here.”

I don’t know what to say. There’s little
point in getting worked up – Padma is as stubborn as a blind Fool.
Besides, I have no right to force my opinion on her. If this town
fuels her Force, that’s too bad, but also understandable. “I’m
going to sleep,” I announce. “We’re leaving early tomorrow morning.
So we don’t have to wait for Winda and Jinn either?”

In my mind’s eye, I can still see their
terrified faces during those organized fights on the lawn in front
of the house. Attendance had been compulsory, so the twins had
always been there, but as far away from the blood and pain as
possible. All the way in the back. Winda had never been called
forward to show his strength, but his brother Jinn had, and it had
been terrible to witness. Jinn had started crying even before
entering the circle to fight Max.

When Padma blows out the candles on her
nightstand and wishes me good night, I can’t stop the dreams about
our old life full of fear and cruelty from coming to me. When my
nightmare finally allows me to run away from Saul and the manor, I
end up on the Dartmoor square, where President Jacob is waiting for
me, a needle in his hands and a malicious grin on his face.

When Tony shows up at the gates with his bus
the following morning, a group of forty-three islanders is waiting
for him. The seven absentees are all from my side of Tresco.
Apparently, the Hope Harborers are better able to pick up on the
undercurrent of danger in this town. They’re not so foolish after
all.

Walt holds on to my hand tightly, looking
left and right to keep an eye on his people. “I told them what Tony
told us yesterday afternoon,” he says quietly. “Together with my
dad. They were all there at the church.”

“And?”

“They want to get to Bodmin as soon as they
can. Seems like a much better place to them. Thank Goddess Tony
isn’t as strict as the people here.”

“If he were, he never would have taken us
here,” I point out to him. “He knew from the start that the
islanders aren’t a bunch of meek sheep. He’s probably seen more
bloody mayhem in that one week he spent on Tresco than he saw in
his entire life before.”

Walt’s face tightens. “He should have warned
us.”

I shake my head. “I’ve been thinking.
President Jacob knows we’re just guests here. We didn’t sign that
manifest. And besides, Tony may not have realized his culture seems
so weird to us.” I smile faintly. “Remember your reaction to me
when I kept saying ‘the parents’ instead of ‘our parents’? I just
didn’t understand what your problem was.”

He smiles back awkwardly. “Yeah, and you
thought us stupid for building ships we never used to actually sail
away. We were just biding our time waiting for a miracle.”

At that moment, William approaches us. “I got
my hands on a copy of the book Gideon wrote,” he says. The volume
he’s waving in front of us looks like the books they have in Hope
Harbor. It says ‘New Testament’ in black letters. “There are huge
piles of them in their temple, so people can buy them and read them
at home. The original is in the palace under lock and key, but they
make new copies all the time, that church lady said.”

Just for a split second, I feel a pang of
resentment stabbing at my heart. Despite their rather extreme norms
and values, the leaders of Dartmoor have no problem sharing their
Book with everybody, even with people from outside of town. With
us, there was just the one copy, and Saul always guarded it
anxiously. And from what I heard, the people on Walt’s side of the
Wall weren’t allowed free access to the Bookkeeper’s Library
either. Everyone here is able to read Gideon’s book, so there are
no secrets. So I wonder how things ever got to this state.

“Can I read it?” I ask eagerly.

William hands me his latest acquisition. “Be
my guest,” he says. “Something to keep you occupied during our
trip.”

At that moment, the front door of the bus
opens with a hissing sound, and the people almost trample each
other in their rush to get inside. Saying the visit to Dartmoor
wasn’t the success we hoped for is putting it mildly.

Walt boards the bus after me and sits down
with me in the seats at the front. “Where’s Padma?” he asks.
“Wasn’t she your roommate for the night?”

I haven’t told him yet that she wants to stay
here a bit longer. “She didn’t feel like coming,” I mumble. “We’ll
pick her up on our way back.”

President Jacob is here to see us off. Next
to him is his ailing daughter. The blissful smile on his face as he
looks up at the bus windows makes me sick. I can’t look at it
anymore without thinking of the murder that was committed in the
square. Whether boys with grim faces and swords in their hands or
composed soldiers carrying painless needles do it – it doesn’t make
a difference. Henry never wanted to die, and neither did Sam. He’d
been scared out of his wits. He’d begged the guards for mercy, to
spare his life so he could be there for his family. Had they simply
accepted his Purge afterwards – obediently nodding in agreement
because Sam had signed the manifest and knew the rules? Or had they
revolted too and been taken care of out of sight?