Speaker 1: Chapter six of Anthem. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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Speaker 1: Caden von Klegg Anthem by Einrand, Chapter six. We have
Speaker 1: not written for thirty days. For thirty days we have
Speaker 1: not been here in our tunnel. We had been caught.
Speaker 1: It happened on that night when we wrote last. We
Speaker 1: forgot that night to watch the sand in the glass,
Speaker 1: which tells us when three hours have passed and it
Speaker 1: is time to return to the city theater. When we
Speaker 1: remembered the sand had run out, we hastened to the theater.
Speaker 1: But the big tents stood gray and silent against the sky.
Speaker 1: The streets of the city lay before us, dark and empty.
Speaker 1: If we went back to hide in our tunnel, we
Speaker 1: would be found in our light found with us. So
Speaker 1: we walked to the home of the street sweepers. When
Speaker 1: the council of the home questioned us, we looked upon
Speaker 1: the faces of the council, but there was no curiosity
Speaker 1: in those faces, and no anger, and no mercy. So
Speaker 1: when the oldest of them asked us, where have you been.
Speaker 1: We thought of our glass box and of our light,
Speaker 1: and we forgot all else, and we answered, we will
Speaker 1: not tell you. The oldest did not question us further.
Speaker 1: They turned to the two youngest and said, and their
Speaker 1: voice was bored, take our brother equality seven dash two
Speaker 1: five two one to the Palace of Corrective Detention. Lash
Speaker 1: them until they tell. So. We were taken to the
Speaker 1: stone room under the Palace of Corrective Detention. This room
Speaker 1: has no windows, and it is empty save for an
Speaker 1: iron post. Two men stood by the post, naked but
Speaker 1: for leather aprons and leather hoods over their faces. Those
Speaker 1: who had brought us departed, leaving us to the two
Speaker 1: judges who stood in a corner of the room. The
Speaker 1: judges were small, thin men, gray and bent. They gave
Speaker 1: the signal to the two strong, hooded ones. They tore
Speaker 1: our clothes from our body. They threw us down upon
Speaker 1: our knees, and they tied our hands to the iron post.
Speaker 1: The first blow of the lash felt as if our
Speaker 1: spine had been cut in two. The second blow stopped
Speaker 1: the first, and for a second we felt nothing. Then
Speaker 1: the pain struck us in our throat, and fire ran
Speaker 1: in our lungs without air, but we did not cry out.
Speaker 1: The lash whistled like a singing wind. We tried to
Speaker 1: count the blows, but we lost count. We knew that
Speaker 1: the blows were falling upon our back, only we felt
Speaker 1: nothing upon our back any longer. A flaming grill kept
Speaker 1: dancing before our eyes, and we thought of nothing save
Speaker 1: that grill, a grill, a grill of red squares. And
Speaker 1: then we knew that we were looking at the squares
Speaker 1: of an iron grill in the door. And there were
Speaker 1: also the squares of stone in the walls, and the
Speaker 1: squares which the lash was cutting upon our back, crossing
Speaker 1: and re crossing itself in our flesh. Then we saw
Speaker 1: a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and
Speaker 1: we saw the red froth of our mouth on the
Speaker 1: withered fingers, And the judge asked, where have you been?
Speaker 1: But we jerked our head away, hid our face upon
Speaker 1: our tied hands, and bit our lips. The lash whistled again.
Speaker 1: We wondered who was sprinkling burning coal dust upon the floor,
Speaker 1: for we saw drops of red twinkling on the stones
Speaker 1: around us. Then we knew nothing save two voices, snarling steadily,
Speaker 1: one after the other, even though we knew they were
Speaker 1: speaking many minutes apart. Where have you been? Where have
Speaker 1: you been? Where have you been? Where have you been?
Speaker 1: And our lips moved, but the sound trickled back into
Speaker 1: our throat, and the sound was only the light, the light,
Speaker 1: the light. Then we knew nothing. We opened our eyes,
Speaker 1: lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a cell,
Speaker 1: we looked upon two hands lying far before us on
Speaker 1: the bricks, and we moved them, and we knew that
Speaker 1: they were our hands, but we could not move our body.
Speaker 1: Then we smiled, for we thought of the light and
Speaker 1: that we had not betrayed it. We lay in our
Speaker 1: cell for many days. The door opened twice each day,
Speaker 1: once for the men who brought us bread and water,
Speaker 1: and once for the judges. Many judges came to our cell,
Speaker 1: first the humblest and then the most honored judges of
Speaker 1: the city. They stood before us in their white togas,
Speaker 1: and they asked, are you ready to speak? But we
Speaker 1: shook our head, lying before them on the floor, and
Speaker 1: they departed. We counted each day and each night as
Speaker 1: it passed then to night, we knew that we must escape,
Speaker 1: for tomorrow the World Council of scholars is to meet
Speaker 1: in our city. It was easy to escape from the
Speaker 1: Palace of corrective detention. The locks are old on the doors,
Speaker 1: and there are no guards about. There is no reason
Speaker 1: to have guards, for men have never defied the council
Speaker 1: so far as to escape from whatever place they were
Speaker 1: ordered to be. Our body is healthy, and strength returns
Speaker 1: to it speedily. We lunged against the door, and it
Speaker 1: gave way. We stole through the dark passages, and through
Speaker 1: dark streets, and down our tunnel. We lit the candle,
Speaker 1: and we saw that our place had not been found,
Speaker 1: and nothing had been touched, And our glass box stood
Speaker 1: before us on the cold oven, as we had left it.
Speaker 1: What matter they now the scars upon our back. Tomorrow,
Speaker 1: in the full light of day, we shall take our box,
Speaker 1: and leave our tunnel open, and walk through the streets
Speaker 1: to the home of the scholars. We shall put before
Speaker 1: them the greatest gift ever offered to men. We shall
Speaker 1: tell them the truth. We shall hand to them as
Speaker 1: our confession these pages we have written. We shall join
Speaker 1: our hands to theirs, and we shall work together with
Speaker 1: the power of the sky for the glory of mankind.
Speaker 1: Our blessing upon you, our brothers, Tomorrow you will take
Speaker 1: us back into your fold, and we shall be an
Speaker 1: outcast no longer. To morrow we shall be one of
Speaker 1: you again. To morrow, end of chapter six. Recording by
Speaker 1: Caden von Clegg The Lunar Island dot blogspot dot com