Ch. 4

"Advanced science courses?" Johnathan Elis hacked out a wheezing laugh that had gotten more practice since he had taken up teaching Evan six years ago. "What, are they going to try and tell you how to distribute what's left of decent resources to create ore everything fodder?" He fell into laughing again.

It was a well-known, and unexpected outcome of the FECs everything machines. Ever since Dr. Wise had stolen the fledgling FECs knowledge, the templets their own scientists had been able to salvage from the transmissions had been corrupted. At first no one had noticed anything, the machines worked just fine, churning out anything that could be imagined faster than it could be produced manually. Then ten years in there was the first major hiccup, the machines started to need materials to work off of. Turns out the base elements in the machines could only last so long before they ran out.

As it turned out, what could be found around the machines could be used just fine as recycled materials. So they used what could be found, in other words they were using the leftovers of everything machine works. That was when the corruption became sorely evident.

After a couple turns of recycling old everything machine products, they just crumbled. Turns out even recycling had its limits until the base material was recycled past the point of use. This meant the FEC now had a need for the surplus of people the world over, handy workers to find base materials.

That was how it went for a couple months, until one of those workers got too close to the loading hatch and fell down. The FEC labeled it as an unfortunate accident that had a lucky outcome. The underlords said that one of the carnivores had probably pushed the guy in because he said something. Johnathan Elis said the guy probably fell asleep from being over worked to the point of sleeping four or five hours every couple days. The collectors schedules had been hell. Whatever the reason, the outcome was simple, a body turned out the most, strongest, and longest lasting materials of any other that could be mined.

Now life was determined by your usefulness to the FEC. If you were smart enough, you could be interred into their ranks of scientists and carnivores. If not, you were fodder for the everything machine. There were no exceptions, if your talents lied in fields other than science or physical abilities, such as the arts, it wouldn't matter. If a baby was born with an obvious deformity, they were confiscated. If you spent too much time plugged into your pictage and just laying about, you were confiscated.

"Yeah, advanced classes my ass." Johnathan Elis' dark humor fell to the side. "It's the best way to survive, she's got that much right. Just make sure you don't stand out too much. You've been doing that, right kid?"

Evan rolled his eyes. "Obviously. I'm still meeting with you here. Even though you are crazy. And really need a sterilization."

Johnathan Elis nodded. "I'll ignore that second part. If it has anything to do with technology they turn out independent of those machines, you can guarantee they watch that footage thoroughly."

As he continued with the Big Brother rhetoric Evan tried to focus, but constantly found his mind drifting, sliding into sleep and almost nodding off. He didn't realize he was asleep until the bony grip on his shoulder woke him up.

"If you're going to sleep, then just leave. You'll raise suspicion if you're gone too long anyways. I'll signal when it's safe to come again."

Standing up, Evan frowned down at the old man still sitting on the dirt floor. "What do you mean, safe again?"

Johnathan Elis was quiet for a while. "After everything I've taught you, do you really think you'll be able to continue meeting with me if you take these advance courses? No, boy. This will be our last meeting for a while. If they find me here, you won't see me again, and I can guarantee it won't be because I've been shoved down a machine's hopper. Make sure the scan's cleared when you leave." With that the old man stood and wandered off into the shadows at the back of the basement.

Evan suddenly felt the return of the fist in his stomach as Johnathan Elis walked away. He had never thought the old guy would actually give up teaching him stuff, although was he really done? He said he would give a signal when it was safe. So all he had to do was pay attention for a signal that Johnathan Elis wanted to meet. That was all. He could do it.

Evan left to go, throwing a couple more glances over his shoulder to check if Johnathan Elis might have returned. He knew better than to yell down here. Electrical signals may be blocked, but voices could echo, and loud voices could echo to the surface and the last thing he wanted to do was give away Johnathan Elis' location.

Up the stone steps and through the massive cathedral, he skirted the broken pews and rotten floor boards. Some of the giant stained glass windows had been broken over the years, and the setting sunlight streamed in in patches intermitted with dazzling colors. Evan had even broken one window piece himself, giving Rosie a rose-tinged glass shard of her eighth birthday. She had been so happy she stopped asking him where he disappeared to all the time and hadn't asked since.

He always tried to be quiet in this old part of the church. Not that anything would echo or make any big noises, just he felt that he had to. It was probably the same reason the carnivores and FEC had left this place alone. There was just something about places where people used to gather in masses and do what humans do. Even though there was very little music, the FEC still kept old concert halls standing too.

Getting to the large doors, he checked the lights, waiting for a blue eye wink, then ran across the space to his alleyway. The return trip always felt faster than actually getting there. Now he just looked like one of the mass of kids running all over the cities grid work, passing messages or getting back to foster homes before the nightfall curfew.

As always, Evan felt the comfortable joy in running around the alleys, skirting through unawareness and secrecy. Getting home perfectly undetected but still knowing where all the runners had been as he made his way home. Knowledge really was power.