Speaker 1: Chapter seven of Anthem. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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Speaker 1: Caden von Klegg Anthem by Einrand, Chapter seven. It is
Speaker 1: dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head,
Speaker 1: black against the last gold of the sky. The moss
Speaker 1: is soft and warm. We shall sleep in this moss
Speaker 1: for many nights, till the beasts of the forest come
Speaker 1: to tear our body. We have no bed now save
Speaker 1: the moss, and no future save the beasts. We are
Speaker 1: old now, yet we were young this morning when we
Speaker 1: carried our glass box through the streets of the city
Speaker 1: to the home of the scholars. No men stopped us,
Speaker 1: for there were none about from the palace of corrective Detention,
Speaker 1: and the others knew nothing. No men stopped us at
Speaker 1: the gate. We walked through empty passages and into the
Speaker 1: Great Hall, where the World Council of Scholars sat in
Speaker 1: solemn meeting. We saw nothing as we entered, save the
Speaker 1: sky and the great windows, blue and glowing. Then we
Speaker 1: saw the scholars, who sat around a long table. They
Speaker 1: were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of the
Speaker 1: great sky. There were men whose famous names we knew,
Speaker 1: and others from distant lands whose names we had not heard.
Speaker 1: We saw a great painting on the wall over their
Speaker 1: heads of the twenty illustrious men who had invented the candle.
Speaker 1: All the heads of the council turned to us as
Speaker 1: we entered. These great and wise of the earth did
Speaker 1: not know what to think of us, and they looked
Speaker 1: upon us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were
Speaker 1: a miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn
Speaker 1: and stained with brown stains which had been blood. We
Speaker 1: raised our right arm, and we said our greeting to you,
Speaker 1: our honored brothers of the World Council of Scholars, the
Speaker 1: Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine. The oldest and
Speaker 1: wisest of the council spoke and asked, who are you,
Speaker 1: our brother, For you do not look like a scholar.
Speaker 1: Our name is Equality seven dash two five two one,
Speaker 1: we answered, and we are a street sweeper of this city.
Speaker 1: Then it was as if a great wind had stricken
Speaker 1: the hall, for all the scholars spoke at once, and
Speaker 1: they were angry and frightened. A street sweeper, a street
Speaker 1: sweeper walking in upon the World Council of Scholars. It
Speaker 1: is not to be believed. It is against all the
Speaker 1: rules and all the laws. But we knew how to
Speaker 1: stop them. Our brothers, we said, we matter not nor
Speaker 1: our transgression. It is only our brother men who matter.
Speaker 1: Give no thought to us, for we are nothing. But
Speaker 1: listen to our words, for we bring you a gift
Speaker 1: such as has never been brought to men. Listen to us,
Speaker 1: for we hold the future of mankind in our hands.
Speaker 1: Then they listened. We placed our glass box upon the
Speaker 1: table before them. We spoke of it, and of our
Speaker 1: long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape
Speaker 1: from the Palace of corrective detention. Not a hand moved
Speaker 1: in that hall as we spoke, nor an eye. Then
Speaker 1: we put the wires to the box, and they all
Speaker 1: bent forward and sat still, watching, And we stood still,
Speaker 1: our eyes upon the wire, And slowly, slowly, as a
Speaker 1: flush of blood, a red flame trembled in the wire.
Speaker 1: Then the wire glowed. But terror struck the men of
Speaker 1: the Council. They leaped to their feet. They ran from
Speaker 1: the table, and they stood pressed against the wall, huddled together,
Speaker 1: seeking the warmth of one another's bodies to give them courage.
Speaker 1: We looked upon them, and we laughed and said, fear nothing,
Speaker 1: our brothers, There is great power in these wires. But
Speaker 1: this power is tamed. It is yours. We give it
Speaker 1: to you. Still they would not move. We give you
Speaker 1: the power of the sky, we cried, We give you
Speaker 1: the key to the the earth. Take it, and let
Speaker 1: us be one of you, the humblest among you. Let
Speaker 1: us all work together and harness this power and make
Speaker 1: it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away
Speaker 1: our candles and our torches. Let us flood our cities
Speaker 1: with light. Let us bring a new light to men.
Speaker 1: But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid,
Speaker 1: for their eyes were still and small and evil. Our brothers,
Speaker 1: we cried, have you nothing to say to us? Then
Speaker 1: Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine moved forward. They
Speaker 1: moved to the table, and the others followed. Yes, spoke
Speaker 1: Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine. We have much
Speaker 1: to say to you. The sound of their voice brought
Speaker 1: silence to the hall and to the beat of our heart. Yes,
Speaker 1: said Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine. We have
Speaker 1: much to say to our wretch who have broken all
Speaker 1: the laws, and who boast of their infamy. How dared
Speaker 1: you that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds
Speaker 1: of your brothers? And if the Council had decreed that
Speaker 1: you should be a street sweeper, how dared you think
Speaker 1: that you could be of greater use to men than
Speaker 1: in sweeping the streets? How dared you gut a cleaner?
Speaker 1: Spoke fraternity, nine dash three four five two. To hold
Speaker 1: yourself as one alone with the thoughts of the one
Speaker 1: and not the many. You shall be burned at the stake,
Speaker 1: said Democracy, four dash six nine nine eight. Now they
Speaker 1: shall be lashed, said unanimity, seven dash three three zero four,
Speaker 1: till there is nothing left under the lashes. Now said
Speaker 1: Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine. We cannot decide
Speaker 1: upon this, our brothers. No such crime has ever been committed,
Speaker 1: and it is not for us to judge, nor for
Speaker 1: any small council. We shall deliver this creature to the
Speaker 1: World Council itself, and let their will be done. We
Speaker 1: looked upon them, and we pleaded, our brothers, you are right.
Speaker 1: Let the will of the Council be done upon our body.
Speaker 1: We do not care but the light what will you
Speaker 1: do with the light Collective zero dash zero zero zero
Speaker 1: nine looked upon us, and they smiled. So you think
Speaker 1: you have found a new power, said Collective zero dash
Speaker 1: zero zero zero nine. Do all your brothers think that no,
Speaker 1: we answered, what is not thought by all men cannot
Speaker 1: be true, said Collective zero dash zero zero zero nine.
Speaker 1: You have worked on this alone, asked International one dash
Speaker 1: five five three seven. Yes, we answered, what is not
Speaker 1: done collectively cannot be good, said International one dash five
Speaker 1: five three seven. Many men in the homes of the
Speaker 1: scholars have had strange new ideas in the past, said
Speaker 1: Solidarity eight dash one one sixty four. But when the
Speaker 1: majority of their brothers scholar voted against them, they abandoned
Speaker 1: their ideas, as all men must. This box is useless,
Speaker 1: said Alliance six dash seven three four nine. Should it
Speaker 1: be what they claim of it, said Harmony nine dash
Speaker 1: two six four two, Then it would bring ruin to
Speaker 1: the department of candles. The candle is a great boon
Speaker 1: to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore it cannot
Speaker 1: be destroyed by the whim of one. This would wreck
Speaker 1: the plans of the World Council, said Unanimity two dash
Speaker 1: nine nine one three, and without the plans of the
Speaker 1: World Council, the sun cannot rise. It took fifty years
Speaker 1: to secure the approval of all the councils for the candle,
Speaker 1: and to decide upon the number needed, and to refit
Speaker 1: the plans so as to make candles instead of torches.
Speaker 1: This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in
Speaker 1: scores of states. We cannot alter the plans against so soon.
Speaker 1: And if this should lighten the toil of men, said similarity,
Speaker 1: five dash zero three zero six, then it is a
Speaker 1: great evil, for men have no cause to exist save
Speaker 1: in toiling for other men. Then collective zero dash zero
Speaker 1: zero zero nine rose and pointed at our box. This thing,
Speaker 1: they said, must be destroyed, And all the others cried
Speaker 1: as one, it must be destroyed. Then we leaped to
Speaker 1: the table, We seized our box. We shoved them aside,
Speaker 1: and we ran to the window. We turned and we
Speaker 1: looked at them for the last time, and a rage
Speaker 1: such as it is not fit for humans to know,
Speaker 1: choked our voice in our throat. You fools, we cried,
Speaker 1: you fools, you thrice damp fools. We swung our fists
Speaker 1: through the windowpane, and we leapt out in a ringing
Speaker 1: rain of glass. We fell, but we never let the
Speaker 1: box fall from our hands. Then we ran. We ran blindly,
Speaker 1: and men and houses streaked past us in a torrent
Speaker 1: without shape, And the roads seemed not to be flat
Speaker 1: before us, but as if it were leaping up to
Speaker 1: meet us. And we waited for the earth to rise
Speaker 1: and strike us in the face. But we ran. We
Speaker 1: knew not where we were going. We knew only that
Speaker 1: we must run, run to the end of the world,
Speaker 1: to the end of our days. Then we knew suddenly
Speaker 1: that we were lying on a soft earth, and that
Speaker 1: we had stopped. Trees taller than we had ever seen
Speaker 1: before stood over us in a great silence. Then we
Speaker 1: knew we were in the uncharted forest. We had not
Speaker 1: thought of coming here, but our legs had carried our wisdom,
Speaker 1: and our legs had brought us to the uncharted forest,
Speaker 1: against our will. Our glass box lay beside us. We
Speaker 1: crawled to it. We fell upon it, our face in
Speaker 1: our arms, and we lay still. We lay thus for
Speaker 1: a long time. Then we rose, We took our box
Speaker 1: and walked into the forest. It mattered not where we went.
Speaker 1: We knew that men would not follow us, for they
Speaker 1: never enter the uncharted forest. We had nothing to fear
Speaker 1: from them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This
Speaker 1: gave us no fear either. Only we wished to be away,
Speaker 1: away from the city and from the air that touches
Speaker 1: upon the air of the city. So we walked on
Speaker 1: our box in our arms, our heart empty. We are doomed.
Speaker 1: Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them alone.
Speaker 1: And we have heard of the corruption to be found
Speaker 1: in solitude. We have torn ourselves from the truth which
Speaker 1: is our brother men, and there is no road back
Speaker 1: for us, and no redemption. We know these things, but
Speaker 1: we do not care. We care for nothing on earth.
Speaker 1: We are tired. Only the glass box in our arms
Speaker 1: is like a living heart that gives us strength. We
Speaker 1: have lied to ourselves. We have not built this box
Speaker 1: for the good of our brothers. We built it for
Speaker 1: its own sake. It is above all our brothers to us,
Speaker 1: and its truth above their truth. Why wonder about this?
Speaker 1: We have not many days to live. We are walking
Speaker 1: to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great silent trees.
Speaker 1: There is not a thing behind us to regret. Then
Speaker 1: a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only.
Speaker 1: We thought of the Golden One. We thought of the
Speaker 1: golden One, whom we shall never see again. Then the
Speaker 1: pain passed. It is best we are one of the damned.
Speaker 1: It is best if the Golden One forget our name
Speaker 1: and the body which bore that name. End of Chapter seven.
Speaker 1: Recording by Caden von Clegg The Lunar Island dot blogspot
Speaker 1: dot com