Chapter Three

A man steps out from one of the alcoves on the far side of the stadium. He is average height with short, tidy hair that recedes a little at the front. His face, though not very attractive, is unassuming to the point of almost being pleasant. He is dressed in a light grey suit that seems slightly too big for his small frame.

‘Allow me to introduce myself,’ he says as we approach, in the same bland voice as before. ‘My name is Jhon Lynch. Which one of you is the girl they call Solis?’ He looks between Blue and I, but I get the feeling he already knows the answer.

‘I’m Solis,’ I say, clearly and definitively, like my name holds more weight than his.

‘Ah, but of course you are, I have heard quite a lot of stories about you, Solis, many that have impressed me, but none more so than the one I heard just this very morning.’

I don’t reply, but Jhon seems to think that it doesn’t merit one anyway. He turns to Blue instead, ‘And who might you be?’

‘She’s with me,’ I say quickly. Jhon looks back at me, amusement in his eyes.

Blue jumps in with her light, flattering voice. ‘Hello, I’m Blue, it’s good to meet you, I love your glass ocean by the way,’ she gestures at the shimmering lights around us.

Jhon smiles for the first time. ‘Thank you my dear, I’m quite proud of it I must admit.’

Blue tilts her head straight up to look at the ocean’s surface. ‘Well, you’ve definitely set the bar high, it’s going to be hard to feel proud of anything I create ever again now that I’ve seen this.’ She smiles back at him as she finishes, and he looks at her with a faint blush and a shy smile.

So it’s not just me, I think to myself, she has this effect on everyone.

Jhon is still grinning as he beckons us all forward. ‘Come, come, the evening is young and there is much I want to show you, and even more I want to discuss.’ He leads us back into the alcove he came from, it is one of the few that sits at ground level, as most of the others are raised well above the floor, and some are so far up I feel you could reach out and touch the shimmering glass surface.

Inside there are hallways running off in both directions around the stadium, with stairs leading up onto the higher floors. There are doors set into the walls across from the alcoves, and Jhon is quick to tell us that these all serve as living spaces, for the people who work here as well as for guests.

‘Obviously the Firmament is the centerpiece of the building, doesn’t really serve much purpose other than to look good and impress my guests but what can I say, I have a taste for the arts, I find it quite intertwined with creation. But come now, we are heading down not up, and down is where the really exciting things happen.’ Jhon leads us to a spiraling staircase sitting at the back of the hall. It’s large and metallic, and looks like it may have been here back when this was still a stadium, an access point to the lower levels of the building.

We make our way down the stairs, the metal ringing out at the touch of our feet, the sounds echoing in the narrow space quite pleasantly. Blue begins tapping her feet to a rhythm as she goes, and the sounds ring back melodically. I smile at her. How does this girl make me do that so much?

At the bottom of the stairwell the space opens up again. I can’t tell what this place would have been before Jhon took it over, or if it was here at all, but a wide open hallway leads down through the centre of it with large rooms branching off on either side, some with displaying glass windows and some completely blocked off with heavy looking doors.

The room nearest to us has windows and inside I can see people gathered around a long thin table. Sitting on the table is a small pot with new shoots sprouting out of the soil, only a few inches long. But as I stand there watching, the plant begins to shake violently back and forth with unnatural speed. It grows upwards as it shakes, blooming into a strange looking flower within the span of a few seconds.

‘What is this place?’ I ask.

‘This Solis, is where the real creation happens,’ replies Jhon happily, ‘come, I’ll introduce you to the man in charge down here, well, the man who runs things anyway.’

We continue down the centre hallway, passing rooms on either side of us as we go. I peer into the ones with windows, some are filled with more people, in the midst of complex or difficult creations. Others are empty, save for strange looking objects and equipment that remind me of things from the past, the stuff we called technology.

Jhon leads us into one of the rooms on the left. It is set up like a kind of classroom, with tables and chairs in the centre of the room, all facing a podium on the far wall. About a dozen people are sitting in the first few rows, and the man at the podium looks up at us as we walk in.

‘Ah, Jhon, welcome, I see you’ve brought me some new audience members, good thing too, this lot were listening about as much as the chairs they’re sitting on.’ The people in the front rows give a short laugh at the man’s joke. He is clearly well liked among them. Old and grey haired, the man is tall and slightly overweight, but he has an unmistakable look about him of someone with a very sharp mind, and his keen eyes glance over us all methodically.

Jhon introduces us, ‘this is Solis, the one I was talking to you about. Her fiery haired friend over there is named Blue, believe it or not, and Iver here is one of our finest talent scouts. I’m giving them the grand tour - thought we could stop by here for a chat.’

If the old man is annoyed by this idea, he shows no sign of it, quickly dismissing his class, he comes down from the podium to greet us.

‘My name’s Clementine, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ he says in a carrying voice, ‘forgive me but you’re not quite what I expected Solis, from the way Jhon here was talking about you earlier I would have thought that you were 10 feet tall. I’ve worked with Solomon for quite some time now and the man is not someone I would want to go toe to toe with.’

‘Yeah well, I’m still growing so you never know,’ I reply dryly.

Something about Clementine has made me put my guard up. It may just be the way he looks at things, like he understands more than he should, or the way he talks, like the real conversation is happening without you knowing about it. Whatever it is, I don’t like the feeling.

Jhon interrupts the conversation, ‘please everyone, have a seat, we might as well be comfortable, there’s lots I’d like to discuss.’

We pull up chairs around the table nearest the door. They are comfortable and padded, Blue bounces on hers a little and gives me a playful grin.

‘I’m sure you have many questions about who we are and what we do here, but before we get into it I’d just like to say that you truly are an honoured guest, all of you. What happened in the city last night, well, it was above and beyond our expectations, and we have you to thank for that Solis.’ Jhon smiles at me like a proud parent. It makes my stomach clench.

‘So just to be clear, last night, that Solomon guy was just some sort of test, some experiment you were running?’ I don’t hide the contempt in my voice, and the smiling faces around me fade quickly.

‘No, not at all. Please understand, the collectives we run in the city, they’re not experiments, they’re…’

‘Opportunities,’ Clementine finishes for him. ‘A great many of them actually, one of which is looked after by your friend Iver here, and others like him.’

‘Talent scouts,’ I repeat, giving Iver the smallest glance possible, just enough to let him know there is little truth in us being called friends anymore.

‘Precisely,’ Jhon continues, ‘but that is just one small part of it. The real benefit is in the crowd itself, you see creation, just like anything else, is something that needs to be learnt. With trial and error, and the passing of time, our ability to create is improving, and the collectives have been a way of measuring this, to give us a baseline that shows how the general population is progressing compared to us and the work we do here.’

‘But that’s not what you did last night,’ Blue says, drawing everyone’s attention. ‘You sent that Solomon man there, you tried to interfere with the collective. How is that helping you see what they are normally like?’

‘Well you see, last night we took a different approach,’ Jhon answers. ‘We were fairly confident we knew what to expect, so we decided to throw a little catalyst into the mix.’ He smiles at his own story, it bothers me on a very personal level. ‘Solomon was there to stoke the fire, to see what kind of potential the crowd really had, and to find out whether or not it could produce anything… unexpected.’

‘As it turns out, it could,’ says Clementine, looking at me with those methodical eyes, mentally dissecting me into component parts.

I don’t like this, it doesn’t seem to make any sense to me, and the more I try to fit it together in my mind the more I realise how many pieces are still missing. I try and fail to organise my questions in a logical order, and instead I say the only thing that my mind can put together clearly. ‘How did they make that flower grow?’

Clementine looks at me a little uncertain, Jhon on the other hand, smiles broadly. ‘Yes, I knew you would pick up on that Solis, any creator worth their salt would have noticed that little display.’

I rush on, ‘creation comes from desire, things we naturally crave, or things we badly need. You can’t just grow a flower. It’s not an object, it’s a living breathing thing,’ I finish in a flurry, my words a little slurred.

Jhon and Clementine share a look that’s full of meaning and makes me even more frustrated than I already am. He looks back at me with a perfectly smug expression and says, ‘well, I have to disagree with you there Solis.’

I stare back at him, too annoyed to trust myself to answer.

Clementine takes over, ‘It’s been over two years since the expansion event, two years since human consciousness took that astounding leap forward. And in all that time, desire is still the most dominant force in our lives.’ He almost sounds sad, his voice has dropped and he seems to show his age a little more as he speaks. ‘We’ve always used the tools at our disposal to get what we want, consciousness has proven no different. We thought it was our greatest triumph. That we were achieving our destiny. But we know better now, don’t we.’

‘What does this have to do with anything?’ I ask. I don’t need any lessons in human failings, they are no stranger to me.

‘It explains the current mindset,’ says Jhon, ‘there is a reason why people believe that desire is the key to creation. When the expansion event happened, the world fell apart because the world was built around desire. It was our driving force, the thing that got us out of bed in the morning. We were taught to want, and want, and then the expansion event took place, and where was all that drive - all that desire - supposed to go?’

I sit silently, and wait for him to continue.

‘Well, we used it of course. We traded our old tools for this new one. Our technology and our systems were outdated within the blink of an eye. They couldn’t give us what we wanted, not like a collective could, not now that we had creation.’ Jhon pauses again. He looks like he is having a harder time putting together what he wants to say next. When he continues, he speaks slowly and meticulously, every word seems chosen with care. ‘I don’t blame any of us for what happened back then. We were unprepared, we tried to fit our old way of thinking into a new world, and we paid a heavy price for it. But the time has come for change. And we are the ones that will bring it.’ Jhon looks at me, and I know he can see the confusion still burning within. ‘I think it would be best if we finish this discussion in one of the labs,’ he says matter of factly. ‘I told you that this place was where the real creation happens, let me show you what I mean.’

--- I feel like a child again, sitting in class and waiting for the next lesson to begin. I watch as Jhon and Clementine set up a strange metal box on the table in front of us. It’s a cube, about a foot high, with two openings on either side that can be opened and closed with sliding panels.

‘This little beauty,’ says Clementine, ‘is what we affectionately like to call Pandora.’ He smiles at us all, the name clearly something he has come up with himself. ‘We used it for our early experiments, it helped us quite a lot back then, now it’s more of a game we use to blow off steam. Here, I’ll show you how it works.’ Clementine opens up both slots so that we can see straight through it to the other side, then he places a small stack of cards on the table, face down. ‘So we can all see that this box is clearly just a box, there’s no trick to this. Now, each of these cards have a small object illustrated on them, Solis and I will both pick a card without showing the other, then we close up Pandora and each try to create our own object within it. We get one minute, and when the time is up we show our cards and open the box,’ Clementine finishes happily.

‘That’s it?’ I say, without really thinking, ‘I mean, we just have to create an object inside the box before the other person can? What does that prove?’

‘You misunderstand Solis, this is not a race, this is a fight.’ Clementine smiles, his tone is lighthearted but I can see the threat behind his eyes. ‘The goal is not just to create your own object, but to stop the other person from creating theirs, that’s how you win.’ I look back at the box. ‘Is that possible?’ I ask, stupidly.

Clementine laughs, ‘Let’s find out shall we, you can draw the first card.’ He gestures towards the deck with an open hand. I follow the movement and, with the slightest hesitation, draw the top card. It’s a picture of a ring, silver banded, simple, and plain, it’s something I know I can create easily. I feel myself relax a little.

Clementine draws his own card. His face gives nothing away. He looks at it for a brief moment before placing it facedown on the table. ‘Shall we begin?’ He asks me.

‘Ready if you are,’ I reply, unwilling to show him just how unready I feel.

We both reach forward and close the panels on Pandora.

I close my eyes and focus. The silver ring comes to the forefront of my mind, clear as day, and I set to work bringing it into the physical world. Creating inanimate objects is simple, all it really takes is a strong enough need, a desire to have the object, to own it. Right now I have all the motivation I need, I can’t think of anything I desire more than to wipe that arrogant smirk off Clementine’s face by beating him at his own little game. I can feel the ring shifting from the existential to material. And then I feel something I can’t quite understand.

It’s like trying to retrieve a memory and although it is right there, so close you can almost see it, it remains just out of reach. As hard as I try, I just can’t seem to take that last step, to make that final connection and bring my silver ring into existence.

‘Time’s up!’ declares Jhon.

I stand there, shaken and angry. Clementine reveals his card, showing a small branch with a few leaves still attached along the stem. I show mine, and then we open the box. The branch inside is identical to the picture, right down to the placement of the leaves.

‘That, I’m Sorry to say, was a very poor effort on your part.’ Clementine looks at me like a parent scolding a child. I would hit him, if I didn’t need him to explain to me what just happened.

‘How did you do that? It’s like that box kept… shutting me out somehow.’

‘A good description of the experience, but quite wrong. The box, as I said before, is just a box. Your mind, however, ran into a little problem.’ He smiles. It’s excruciatingly smug. ‘You say that desire is the key to creation, but I wonder exactly how well you understand what desire really is.’ He picks up the branch, holding it delicately in both hands, turning it slowly as he talks. ‘Creating something you want for yourself is easy enough, but to desire things for others, whether it’s in giving or withholding, requires something much more primal.’ The branch begins to wither and die in his hands, the leaves drying and falling from the stem as it shrivels slowly into dust. ‘It requires fear. It’s the core of every action, the father of all desire. Fear is the thing that makes us think about others - forces us to think about them. If you were the only person in the world, the only thing that existed, where would you learn how to want something more than you had? Where would you learn how to fear something you didn’t? If you couldn’t compare yourself to others, fear wouldn’t exist, and neither would creation. I won the game Solis, because you think desire is about yourself - what you want - but desire isn’t personal, it’s just fear. The fear of where we stand compared to everybody else.’

I’m not sure if it’s because of my frustration, but nothing he has said seems to explain how he managed to block my mind like that. ‘You took away my ability to create. You pulled it right out of my head. It’s not possible.’

Clementine looks at me like I am insulting him. ‘It’s a two way street, Solis. That is what you and all the others out there have failed to understand. The Expansion gave us a way of using our fears to change our reality. You’re a part of my reality just as I am a part of yours. Stop thinking just about yourself and start seeing the bigger picture.’

So that’s it, not exactly a clear answer, but I think I understand.

‘Again,’ I say to Clementine, taking a card from the pile.

He looks reassured, ‘that’s the spirit.’ He draws his own card. We close the box and begin.

This time, I don’t think about the stone pictured on my card. I think about Clementine, and what it is I really want. I want to create the stone because I want to win the game, and I want to win the game because I want Clementine to lose, because I am afraid that if he doesn’t, then I will. I hold onto that thought, the fear of where I will stand compared to him when Pandora opens. I don’t let him out of my mind, not for one second. And then the time is up.

Clementine looks strange as we slide open the panels. His card was a pair of socks, and I watch the look on his face as it flashes with something resembling anger.

The box is empty.

‘A valiant effort, but still only half a victory,’ he says, his demeanor returning to that of a teacher. ‘You can’t forget the aim of the game Solis, remember that.’

‘I’ll keep it in mind,’ I reply hotly. ‘Let’s go again.’

--- The moon is out, and we are lucky it is. The Firmament looks like something from another world in its light. Blue and I sit in one of the alcoves high above the ground. We watch the glass surface glow with shifting waves and the whole room bathe in streams of moonlight.

I played against Clementine until the entire deck had been used. Then we started picking objects at random. But I never won. The best I could hope for was an empty box, and even that wasn’t very often. I can still see the man’s calculating eyes flashing in my mind.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ says Blue. I look up at her. Half of her face is covered by shadow, and the other half glows in the pale moonlight. She looks very beautiful. ‘You’re thinking about that flower, right? The one they grew.’

I can’t think of how to answer, so I just give her a small nod.

‘It’s been on my mind too. I mean, they never properly explained it, not really. They say fear is how we relate to others and that is how we define ourselves. So shouldn’t creating life be the last thing we should be doing? I mean, if everything we ever do is really just fear trying to find a place for us amongst everything else, then how do you bring more life into it? It’s just another thing to compare yourself to, another reason to fear who you are - what you are.’

We sit in silence for a while, both watching the changing patterns of the moonlight, and each other.

‘I don’t want you to do it,’ Blue says suddenly.

I don’t need to ask her what this is about. I sigh, long and wearily. ‘It’s not a big deal Blue, they just need someone to run their collectives, I’m at those things all the time anyway, I might as well be the one in charge, there’s not much difference really’

‘The difference is what they might want you to do while you’re there, Solis. Or have you forgotten Solomon?’

I try to answer and stop, lost with what to say. She waits me out, staring me down. Half her face luminous and the other in darkness. It’s a powerful stare. ‘I’m not going to be like that, I won’t make the same mistakes he did. What they do here, it’s important, you can see that right. They are trying to understand the expansion event, understand creation-‘

‘I don’t think they’re trying to understand it, I think they are trying to control it,’ Blue interrupts avidly, her voice breaking a little at the end, like it has never tried to speak so forcefully before and can’t quite figure out how to do it. I move closer to her. If I lean forward now, I would be close enough to kiss her.

‘Isn’t that the same thing?’ I ask softly.

She smiles at me, but it is full of a sadness I can’t quite explain.

‘I think I might need you there with me Blue,’ I whisper.

She moves the tiniest bit closer, ‘like you could stop me,’ she teases. I move the rest of the way.