“Can you keep a secret?” Sing asks.
Shaking his head, Zvin laughs, coughs as he points at his friends and opines, “You’ve got to be kidding! You of all people know that B’nn over there cannot be trusted to keep her mouth shut. And neither can I, truth be told.”
In the corner, B’nn perks up. “That’s a lie!” she spouts indignantly. She stands, takes a big breath. “I can totally keep a secret.” She says, pointing towards the two young lovers, Gwon and Tin. “I haven’t turned them into the council for violating their caste have I? No! And if I did, well, they’d be in big trouble. Huge trouble! So, there, whatever you are about to tell us you can trust me. I promise.” Finished berating her caste mates, B’nn crosses her arms and sits in a huff. She sits so forcefully she is quickly engulfed in a fine, red dust that causes everyone in the room to cough.
“Okay, well, you say that now, but do you mean it?” Sing wonders aloud.
“Kiss my ring,” B’nn says quickly. She tightens her grip on the small piece of stone she holds, wondering how much it would hurt Sing if she threw it and hit him. With a shrug she drops it to the floor and says, “I am only a cog in the machine of our survival, what I say has very little true meaning.”
With a furtive glance, Sing ignores her feelings of inadequacy and pounces. “I’ve been to the surface.”
The group erupts. Seconds later, knowing they cannot be discovered together; they all stop at the same time.
“You’ve done WHAT?” Zvin asks just loud enough to be heard. He is, to put it bluntly, incredulous.
“Been to the surface.”
“No way you’ve been to the surface. It’s toxic! There’s no air, no water, no reason to be there for thousands of years. It will never be the paradise it once was.”
Sing interrupts. “Was it ever really paradise? We only know what the oldsters and writings tell us of the past. And why shouldn’t I go to the surface?”
“For every reason I just stated?” Zvin answers. “Plus, it will get you recycled.”
“Yeah, I’m not worried about that. What I’ve discovered is way more important.”
“Discovered?” B’nn perks up for the corner, her curiosity taking hold.
Zvin extends an arm to shut her up. “Wait B’nn, I want to hear how Sing got to the surface. It’s miles overhead! Plus, the Army patrols the caverns and tunnels located just below the surface. They will surely catch you and bring you before the council. Right before they turn you into food.”
Sing frowns. “Maybe. Maybe not. I have found what I believe to be a perfect way up to the surface. Let me show you.” The group watches as Sing unfolds a hand-drawn rendering of their subterranean metropolis. Tin and Gwon stand, leaning on each other to get a better look. “Oh, that’s a nice picture! You have real talent. I think you captured the insane asylum perfectly,” Gwon says with mirth.
Tin smacks Gwon on the head and says, “Your family is the most insane, so is that why you recognize it so easily?”
Gwon reacts with a smile. “Yep. Completely insane. Those Council seats make you insane. The choices are never good, always bad.” Grasping Tin’s hand, Gwon looks at his lover and says in a quiet voice, “Bad. Why must you always be bad.”
“If you guys are through, let me show you what I’ve discovered.” Sing starts by pointing to a part of the map they all recognize as their secret meeting spot.
Before Sing can continue though, B’nn pipes up, “How can you put our place on your map? What if it is found? We’ll all be recycled!”
“Calm down, we’re safe. This is the only copy. I drew it by hand and keep it in a place no one where it will never be found.”
“Said the last person with contraband just before he got caught,” mutters Gwon. Sing throws an angry look Gwon’s way, so he leans toward the map. “Sorry. Just keeping that possibility in the conversation. I don’t want to get caught. I know that none of us wants to get caught. So, lets just continue to be careful. Very careful. Show us what you brought us here to see.”
“Alright.” Using a thin metal rod, Sing points. “This is where we are right now. Follow the pointer and I’ll show you a pathway to the surface.” They all follow while in slow motion as he traces a line that moves between inhabited and uninhabited spaces. “While testing a new sonic drill system, I figured out a way to improve its efficiency. It kept getting clogged by the dust . . .”
“Everything gets clogged by the dust, even I do,” Gwon offers.
“Right, we all deal with it. We’ve dealt with it for thousands of years. While the surface above is dead, down here, life thrives . . .”
This is too much for B’nn who is unable to resist interrupting. “Thrives? I am uncertain about your use of that word to describe how we live underground. I think the ones who get recycled so that we can ‘thrive’ would disagree.”
“Maybe they shouldn’t do whatever it is that gets them sideways with the council and sent for recycling,” Sing snaps.
“You mean, like having secret meetings in secret locations talking about secret things like abandoned tunnels that could be followed to the surface?”
Sing pauses for a moment. In the glow provided by the battery-operated light, his body seems as red as the dirt underneath their feet. With a grimace of acknowledgement, he nods.
“Yes. I suppose all that is true. If you all are unwilling to continue, I shall go it alone. You may leave now, and I will never speak of it to whomever leaves ever again. You have my promise.”
Arrayed around Sing, his friends are silent. Hearing no objections, he continues. “Okay, then, it is settled. Now, you all know of the subterranean water, mostly draining from the ice caps, yes?”
His friends nod and grunt.
“It flows into our catchment digs, where we use it as needed. Oh, by the way, I’ve made a friend in the water catchment division. He’s given me some recycled plant pulp to test. I’ve always wondered why we don’t try and make something that would cut the dust.”
B’nn feels it is necessary to interrupt his friend once again. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you’ve used old plants to lubricate that experimental drill system you keep claiming to have invented?”
“Yes, that is what I’m telling you. But that’s not why we’re here today.”
“Honestly Sing, we’re worried about you,” B’nn says, her eyes telegraphing the fact that she is truly worried. “You are clutching a wad of sand and it pours through your fingers.”
“Look, my lubrication system is not even what I am here to tell you guys. Yes, I’ve devised a new drilling system that uses recycled plant oil as a lubricant. Yes, I expect a bump in Caste as a result, which will make me even more attractive as a potential mate. And later in life, it will certainly put me in line for Council membership. But none of that is important! What is important is that to complete my research, I found and followed several old, water catchment tunnels carved by liquid seeping from the surface. Many are large enough that I was able to walk upright. I followed one, this one here,” he says, using the pointer to show a line on his hand-drawn map, “where I ended up inside a large cave. I was intrigued, and continued walking, making sure to mark my way so that I would be able to retrace my path. It kept getting brighter and brighter and then, I was outside.”
“On the surface? You dust mite!” Zvin exclaims, using the vilest type of curse available.
“On the surface. It was beautiful. The sky was extraordinary. The wind was blowing, dust and sand were swirling in the distance. I could see the ruins of what we once were, thousands of years ago before the catastrophe and resulting wars.”
“What did you do? Could you breathe? How long were you there?” the questions from his friends started coming faster than Sing could provide adequate answers so he finally held up his hands and begged for silence.
“I will answer any questions you may have, but first, I must tell you, in the sand were tracks of some kind. They seemed . . . mechanical nature. There is something up there.” Ending his story, Sing uses his body as punctuation by pointing directly at the ceiling towards the surface, which is more than a mile overhead.
“Huh?” they all say in unison.
Nodding his head, Sing reiterates. “There is something on the surface of our world that isn’t ours.”
