Elysian Fields (15 page)

Daniel watched Mel sitting in the shade of a large
maple tree and marveled at the change in her the last couple of months. She was surrounded by people of various ages, from kindergarten age up to their early twenties.
She is so lively and kind and affectionate towards these people!
His thoughts were full of her as she began talking to the new students.

“Every plant starts as a little seed.
For example, the one in my hand is a zucchini seed. We plant it in the soil by digging a hole, just like this.” She made a small hole with a stick. “We put this seed in the ground and water it.” She stopped a kid wandering around by the arm, so that he would not trample on the fresh spot in the dirt. “We also make sure we don’t step on it.”

“After a while, we will see a plant pushing its head up to the sun. In time, the plant will grow bigger and stronger, will make flowers, some little, some big,
with all kinds of beautiful colors that will attract bees and other insects. The flowers will get pollinated, and thus the plant bears fruits that we can eat. The fruits have seeds inside them that will make more plants, and the cycle continues.”

“What does
polli… something mean?” a little kid, eyes open wide, asked.

“Pollination is the process by which plant pollen, a yellow powder in the flower, is transferred to the stigma,” She held up a different flower, a field lily. “See this part here? This is the stigma. Pollen is transferred to the stigma by the wind or by insects.”

“So they don’t have a mom and a dad either,” the small voice concluded.

“Well, we all have a mom and a dad, even the plants. The pollen is coming from the dad, and the stigma is the mom part. You came from a mom and dad, too, you just don’t know them. And you know what, it’s not really important anymore, because you have our own family now. Families
stick together and nobody gets left behind. And you are loved, little munchkin.” She grabbed the little kid and hugged him tightly. The others looked at the whole scene and started to smile, with the beginning of a new understanding dawning on them, a sense of belonging and of being treasured for who they were.

Later on, Mel and Daniel were sitting together in the shade of the tree in their backyard, everyone else having left for the day.

“Why haven’t you gone home yet, Daniel?” asked Mel, her dark big eyes boring questioningly into his. “You have your life back, just the way you wanted it: with purpose, with morals.”

“I like it here with you
. I mean, with all of you,” Daniel felt himself blushing at the unexpected implications of his words. He’d been thinking of her in particular, his long lashes almost touching the lower eye lids. “I feel more at home here than in the city. The simplicity of it all is really touching. Besides, the new people need me desperately. It may not be my specialty, but I took a lot of medical courses in college and I have a good understanding of their bodies and their needs. I like to study their behavior too. It’s so comforting to know I was right all along, you know, about their humanity. But why haven’t you gone back home to have a discussion with your parents? Maybe they’ve changed, maybe they’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“There’s nothing there for me. They never loved me. I know it now, when I feel your warmth, your
friendship; I have a new family: Jules, Allan, David, Tom, you.”

“I’m sorry for what you went through. Come here
.” He felt his heart go out to her, and placed an arm around her shoulders, while she placed her head on his chest.

“The worst thing was that I had nowhere to go. I mean, there was no school to attend, no friends to make
. Not real ones, anyway, just avatars in a virtual classroom. And nobody was allowed to reveal personal information as to where we lived, for fear somebody might come and break in and do us harm, knowing we were home alone. Why couldn’t they have set up a real school for us, somewhere in the Servers’ compound?”

“I think it was because the city leaders determined it
was dangerous to have the Servers gather together and start talking about the unfairness of their condition, and even start riots, causing a social upheaval of our society. You know, the online courses started a long time ago, but they were for working people who appreciated keeping their day job while studying at night in the comfort of their home.”

“It might have been true for them because they were living on their own, but not for us, so young and vulnerable. How can we make good citizens and learn how to socialize or care for each other when we never see one another?”

“That is a huge problem of our society. It alienates people and thus, we become very self-centered and addicted to the only social media we have at our disposal: the Digi and the broadcasts from all over the city, the reality shows, the games, the virtual reality and so on.”

“And they forget to have their own dreams and to pursue them and they get depressed and impatient with anything that keeps them from escaping in the virtual world. I see your point, and I can see how harmful it can be.”

“I wonder how come you never got addicted to the entertainment.” Daniel felt his scientific curiosity aroused.

“We had only two large screens in the house. Mom and dad were always watching, and since they
basically ignored me unless they needed me for various chores around the house, I started to read books, and I got a passion for the world they created in my mind, so I never really craved the shows. What about you?” she asked.

“My parents were very competitive and they did not allow David and me more than
two hours of Digi or net watching per night, so we could finish our homework. After that, they gave us their own homework; they said it was to help us to excel in anything we pursued. Turned out to be a good thing, after all.”

They sat
there in silence for a while longer, seated under the tree, and Daniel felt at peace, as if he had finally found his home, with Mel so close to him, enjoying their newfound intimacy.

Daniel was sitting at his old desk,
having finished looking over the latest lab report fresh from the analyzer for the third time. He had come back to his old office, not because he had missed it, but because he desperately needed to find out more about the food coming from the processing plant.

Could
this be true? It’s hard to believe someone would do that to the people. Maybe I’m wrong. But no, the results are clear. The proof is in here. What’s happening to our world?
He felt exhausted by so many days of intensive research and tests, leading the team of researchers and lab technicians Tom had put at his disposal.

Daniel had called
Tom and David to join him as soon as possible because the latest test showed some very disturbing evidence. Unfortunately, it was worse than he could have imagined, while confirming the suspicions he had raised all along.

His thoughts moved to Mel and her transformation,
like a chrysalis turned into a beautiful butterfly.
She’s so smart, she should be a teacher. She’s a natural. Can she possibly love me?
It had felt so good to hold her in his arms. He wondered if he was in love. He’d never felt like this before. But then, he’d never had time or patience for anything but learning. He thought about helping her get into college.

He tried to shake off his
personal feelings and once again concentrated on the job at hand.

He
heard a knock and turned to see his brother and Tom at the door and motioned them to take a seat, his eyes moving back to the report in front of him, as if the results had magically changed to reveal a better outcome.

“I
can’t tell you how happy I am to see you back in your lab,” David confessed, lowering himself into the nearby chair. Tom took another chair and came to sit closer to his young friends.

“I have to say I’m happy too, but not for the reasons you might think
,” Daniel replied. “I feel I have a purpose in life, and I can make a good difference. I tried to remember old lessons from school and I had the chance to partner with some good friends from the old days to study the composition of our food. Thank you, Tom, for helping me bring them together. We found some interesting facts. As a starting point, do you know where our food is coming from?”

“From the food processing plant, where else?” David seemed perplexed by the question.

“Exactly. A fully automated facility that nobody has entered for as long as anyone can remember, as per my investigation. I asked myself how come even I didn’t have the curiosity to find that out before. No matter now. The food comes pre-packaged, it’s sold to the Servers and sometimes the Professionals, too. Right so far?”

“Yeah, they
buy it online or at a market, so what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that the food recipes of the autonomous factory have been altered. We found new chemical compounds in the food we tested that were never part of the original package. The
latest tests we conducted show modified glutamic acid.”

“What does
that mean?” Tom asked with concern in his voice.

“The original glutamic acid has very little taste, yet when ingested, people think the food they’re eating has more protein and tastes better. It does this by tricking their tongue using the umami taste.”

“What’s umami?” Tom seemed unaware of the term, which was surprising coming from a highly educated Elite man, Daniel thought.

“It’s a little known fifth basic taste, totally different from sweet, sour, bitter or salty.”

“What is wrong with that?” David intervened, obviously unfamiliar with the details of this particular item.

“People become addicted to food containing this substance
,” Daniel explained patiently, knowing that he had to try and be clearer for the benefit of his guests. “But the main point is that glutamic acid is a neurotransmitter that the brain uses to trigger various processes in the body. Thus, the cells get overexcited to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees, triggering or worsening depression, learning disabilities, headaches, fatigue, and disorientation.”

“You said it
’s a mutated or modified compound?” asked Tom.

“Which could mean that the effects could be magnified many times over
,” Daniel replied. “We will conduct more research to test our hypothesis, but we have already seen manifestations of depression and complacency among our citizens. I’m afraid they might be linked to learning disabilities, which is something very commonplace among the Servers nowadays, according to a statistics report I ordered a week ago.”

David took a moment to compose himself, with a look of consternation on his face. “What are you planning to do, then?”

“Well, we have to decide on the next step. I assume that means talking to the Elite who owns the food processing plant, and finding out who is behind this,” Daniel proposed.

“I’ll take care of that,” Tom
said, taking command of the situation. “This is indeed very disturbing news. On the positive side, now we are getting closer to solving the mystery surrounding the happenings in the city. I’ll hold the owner of the processing plant personally accountable for everything that’s been happening. Do you have any idea how long we’ve been exposed to that chemical?”

“I don’t want to speculate,” Daniel tried to be cautious, “but the downward trend is very gradual, which could mean that what’s been happening here is not a recent development.”

“Yet the city mice in your experiment showed dramatic and immediate degradation,” David pointed out, somewhat confused.

“Let’s not forget that their lifespan is what, one or two years? The
effects took place over several weeks. Their metabolism is much faster, and perhaps they are simply more sensitive to the chemical. I’m sorry, I am speculating here again.” Daniel stopped, realizing he was trying to defend his theory without backup.

“
Agreed, let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Tom. “It’s clear that we have a dangerous chemical in our food, which also happens to be addictive, therefore people consume more food than they should.” Tom rubbed his chin in thought.  “We may have to move up that plan we discussed about the Scrappies living more off the land. And yet we can’t just remove our only food source from an entire class.”

David moved in his chair, looking somewhat impatient. “Guys, I also want to share with you some very disturbing news.” He stopped and took a long breath before continuing, as if a heavy load was on his chest.

“Do you remember when I mentioned the subliminal messaging inserted in ads? And the targeting of the subconscious mind to trigger a specific behavior to the advantage of the messenger?”

“I remember perfectly well,” said Tom. “I said that knowing that this is a possibility will give us a strategic advantage. Has there been a development? Have you found something more specific?”

“Yes, I have. I’d like to show you some of the clips I have and the images revealed in them.” David pulled out his tablet, turned it on, placed it on the desk, and tapped on one of the icons.

A commercial advertising an upcoming show appeared, featuring an attractive young woman. She was busty with long, wavy hair and wore a perfect white smile while explaining the rules of the new reality game.

At some point during the commercial, the bottom part of the image changed ever so slightly. They saw it only because David pointed to that in advance. The change was so fast it was easy to miss. It happened several times during the commercial.

“Now, look at the part with the changed hue. I’ll show it to you frame by frame, and you’ll be able to see the significance of it.” David tapped in a few commands. A freeze frame appeared on the screen and showed an image so burned in Tom’s mind, he had nightmares about it. It was the heavenly realm his wife, Lucia, had chosen over him and their son. The lush vegetation, the beautiful park with the great marble building, they were all there for him to see. Large words appeared at the bottom
: I have prepared a room for you in my heavenly house. Come, beloved!
Tom stood up suddenly as if his chair was on fire.

“
What is this?” Tom exclaimed in horror. “It cannot be true!”

“But it is true. I saw the same i
mage on the big screen at Happy Endings clinic, when I accompanied several of my relatives there, so I know what this represents: a call to end one’s earthly life, with the promise of eternal heaven. I know what Daniel says, that after death there is nothing, but I personally am an agnostic. In reality, no one knows for sure. But no matter what you believe, this is huge, Tom.
Happy Endings
isn’t just an empty promise, it’s mass murder. We have to stop it, and we have to do it now. How many more people will die thinking it’s their decision?”

”You’re right,” Tom agreed.
“We have to take action. Let me talk to Serge first. In the meantime, find other examples to prove that this is indeed a conspiracy and I will take it to the city council. This has to stop.”