By David C. Daoust
It was a dull hum, a constant droning noise, ever present in the sleeping hours of the Wards small portion of the city-station. This noise is what let Clover know everything was okay. Never once did it occur to him to figure out what it was. It was just there, a part of his life for as long as he could remember.
That was before all the changes; before he found himself trapped within his powerless Scion floating helplessly in the Black Beyond. There was no hum out in the stars, not that he could hear, just silence.
His mind focused on the noise. He realized it wasn’t just one source, but several. The terminals, the air conditioning units, and other devices throughout the sleeping quarters…Including the other Wards sleeping about him, each in their own hammock- stretched from one end of the room to another. In the distance he could pick out a few snores, but mostly it was just the light rise and fall of breath. It was part of the hum too.
Twenty to thirty hammocks spanned throughout the chamber, some high above, and even more stacked below him; each with another Ward within, sleeping blissfully to the hum. There were several such sleeping quarters, concentrated in this part of the city, as there were on each of the three city-stations that housed Ergos and his Wards.
The lights were off. The ever present nannies rested within the hammocks- the Wards tended to shove them under their blankets, as their glowing light, even when dimmed, could be distracting. Clover didn’t hear anything from them. No noise to add to the hum. No proof of the life that coursed through them, as was proof of all else that added to the hum. Yet, Clover remembered- when they were gone, that was when he noticed there was no hum.
Clover knew he wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, and his restlessness was starting to make him uncomfortable. He pushed himself up and out of the warm folds of his bedding, and flew straight up. His nannies followed in turn. Several wards grumbled as the dimly lit spheres followed close behind, either shifting away or pulling their blankets up over their heads.
Clover didn’t care. He didn’t want to have to lie there any longer. He could feel his thoughts turning dark. He knew if he stayed, just laying there, his mind would start to churn through his worries.
He slipped out the hatch above, and flew through the corridors. He planned to head for ‘Hearth’. Hearth was where the hordes of Wards went to eat their food. It was one of the larger chambers, more of a hall really. Long tables lined the floors, with long benches where they could rest and eat.
The food smelled good- but he wasn’t hungry. His restlessness wasn’t going to abate apparently, Clover’s plan changed. Instead he flew to the Nursery. He couldn’t go in and see the newborns, but he could look at them through the glass. There number seemed endless. All with the same pale white skin, all so very small. Droids marched, periodically, throughout the Neonatal Nursery. One such droid’s head turning as it passed each crib, as though ticking them off.
These large droids were what did much of the work; cared for the young and prepared the food. They were all just more ‘nannies’, like his spheres that currently floated around him. Clover flicked one with his thumb, and the small sphere was flung back behind him. Yet Floating midair, he rested his forehead on the glass separating him from the legion of newborns sleeping blissfully through the night. No knowledge, as of yet, of the promises of the Great Ergos; The One Mind, the Benevolent Benefactor of All, The Savior, The One who is Many. ‘Wards have but to look to Ergos, and all their worries be but forgotten.’ That’s what they were taught. That’s what they told each other, just waiting for the day; The Day of their Ascension.
This was Clover’s thirteenth year of life.
There was no year fourteen.
This was the end of his days among the Wards. He was, finally, going to join Ergos.
Clover was finally going to be inducted into his Eternal Life.
Of all the questions that surged through his mind, only one really summed up his thoughts, “Would there be a hum?”
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