The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty (5 page)

“What did Bernie say?”

“Well, I’ll give him credit for one thing. He always had an answer. He said, ‘You could always increase the food supply.’ So I asked, ‘What about when the planet is full?’ He said, ‘Then make the planet bigger and, after that, make more planets.’ The kid was just plain stubborn.”

“Did he have any other hang-ups?”

“Don’t get me started on his issues with blinking out a population. That one made him nuts. Sometimes you realize your creation isn’t going to make it, and the best thing is to start over. So you blink them out and begin again. Everyone knows that.”

“But not Bernie?”

“Nope. He thought once you created something, you take on some sort of parental responsibility for it,” said Gabriel. “I thought I could force the right answer out of him by asking him what he would do it if his main life form was being destroyed by a second life form. Makes sense to get rid of the invasive species, right? Not to Bernie. ‘I would split the continent so they are not on the same land mass,’ he says.”

“He’s creative,” Ezrah acknowledged.

“One day he asked me to prove the things we create are any different from us. I naturally pointed out that created beings don’t have thoughts or feelings like we do. ‘How do you know?’ he asked. ‘Because they don’t have souls,’ I said. ‘How do you know?’ he asked again. ‘Because we didn’t give them any,’ I said. ‘If I wanted to give a soul to one of my creations, how would I do it?’ he asks. ‘You can’t, because we’re not sure exactly what it is,’ I explained. ‘If we don’t know what a soul is, how do we know we have them and they don’t?’ he says.” Gabriel shook his head. Ezrah wasn’t sure if he saw disgust or anger. “My days were spent in this kind of debate.”

“Did this cause problems with the other students?”

“Oh, no. I don’t think anyone took him seriously. Most kids come from good builder families, and they understood this stuff before they took my class. I think Bernie got his ideas from one of those fringe groups around town always protesting one thing or another.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He used to wear T-shirts from protest rallies. Things like: All life is sacred, Save the Lookies, Why destroy at all? He always wore torn jeans and old tennis shoes. I’ve never seen him in anything else. I think it was his way of defying The School’s unwritten dress code.”

“I saw you gave him a D+ for the class.”

“It was the lowest grade I could give him. He knew the right answers so he did well on the midterm exam. But in class, he disagreed with everything. I changed the final exam to essay questions hoping I could flunk him, but I couldn’t quite justify it.”

“Is that why you wrote the special report and put it in his file?”

“Yes. I knew he would eventually get to The Business, and I didn’t want you guys blind-sided.”

“Well, thanks for the warning, Gabriel. I appreciate it.”

Beatrice’s Version

Ezrah stuffed the notes from his meeting with Gabriel into his briefcase and walked down the hallway to see Beatrice. He couldn’t help smiling as he approached her office. If she’d been one of his teachers, he might have ended up a builder instead of going into personnel.

“Hello, Ezrah.” Beatrice beamed a bright smile at him. “Who are you sleuthing out today?”

“Today, it’s Bernie.”

“Sure. He’s been in my classes for several years. One of my favorite students, actually. What do you want to know?”

“In looking over his file and talking to Caleb and Gabriel, I have some doubts about him.”

“Why?” She looked puzzled.

“Gabriel said Bernie argued with him about numerous ethics issues. Bernie challenged the death directive, argued against blinking out his mistakes, insisted created life has feelings, and more. I assume you observed similar behavior.”

“Well, you have to understand Gabriel is very ‘old school’. He doesn’t like it if anyone questions anything.”

“No kidding. Listening to one of the elder gods is always intense. My ears are still ringing,” said Ezrah. He knew they would say the same thing about him someday, but not for a while yet. “I’m concerned, though. He described some very stubborn behavior by Bernie.”

“Bernie has, on occasion, resisted doing things. But I’ve always been able to get him to do what was needed.” She flashed Ezrah a pretty smile, and to make sure he understood her meaning, she radiated her shimmer at him. Ezrah found himself watching a hypno-wheel of swirling colors pulling him into its center.

“I can see how that would be hard for any young god to resist,” Ezrah said. And then they both laughed.

“Well, you have to understand. Bernie is a pacifist. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody or anything, and this influences everything he does, including his building assignments. But he listens well and whenever I made suggestions, he did his best to carry them out.”

“So he had no problem blinking things out when you asked him to?”

“I didn’t say that. He still had problems with it, and if there was any way he could think of to accomplish the same thing without blinking something, he did. He was quite creative, actually. I think he takes after his mother in that way.”

“You know the family?”

“Sure. His mom attended parent-teacher conferences, and she’s active in the PTA, too. I wish more parents were as involved.”

“Where does she work?”

“She’s a waitress in one of the restaurants in Central Plaza. Her name is Hannah. You’ve probably seen her around.”

“What about his dad? What’s he like?”

“Oh, gosh. You didn’t know? His dad is Simeon.”

“You’re kidding! Simeon? He’s amazing,” said Ezrah. “I went to a couple of his lectures after he won his second Universe Award. He has three now, you know. I can’t remember the last time someone won that many.”

“Neither can I.”

“So you got to meet him. What’s he like?” Ezrah leaned closer.

“No, I’ve never met him. He and Hannah are divorced. Let me think… It was right after he won the second award. Bernie would have been about eight or nine then, I think.”

“Divorce is hard on kids. How did Bernie handle it?”

“Oh, that happened before I knew him. I remember his mom said it was rough on Bernie when they had to move out to Section Five. He lost most of his friends.”

“That would be hard on anyone. I don’t think there’s anything out there but the project homes and the woods. And then the wilderness.”

“That’s about right, I think. I’ve never been out to Section Five.”

“I have. I went all the way out to The Edge once. You have to walk a long way through the woods to get there. Then, when you get to The Edge, you can see the wilderness down below. It goes on forever.”

“Did you go past The Edge?”

“Not me. Who knows what might be lurking there? I have too much to live for.” Ezrah chuckled.

“Well, it doesn’t seem to have done Bernie any harm. He told me once he likes to walk in the woods.”

“So you’re telling me Bernie is a lonely guy with a death wish?” Ezrah asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Beatrice laughed. “Seriously, I like the boy. He might be a little different, but wouldn’t you be if you grew up in the shadow of a famous father?”

“How does he get along with the other kids?”

“Quite well. Much better for the last couple of years. There was a little cabal that used to pick on him. I think they were jealous of the attention he got because of his dad.”

“It doesn’t seem like it would be hard to rise above that.”

“Well, remember, a lot of things happened when his parents separated. For one, they went from being comfortable financially to, well… Section Five,” she said.

“Tell me about this little cabal.”

“The ringleader was a guy named Billy. Do you know him? He graduated a year ahead of Bernie.”

“Oh, yes. I hired Billy. I still get the creeps when I think of his scar. It’s really hard to… Oh, wait! Wasn’t Bernie the one who fought with Billy? I remember now—it was Simeon’s son who did it.”

“Yes, but remember, they were only about eight or nine when it happened,” she said a little defensively.

“But still.” Ezrah recoiled from his memory of the incident. “What Bernie did was awful! Nobody deserves that.”

“Wait a minute, Ezrah,” said Beatrice. “It wasn’t Bernie. It was his chaos cloud that did it.”

“But still.”

“Ezrah, let me explain. Billy picked on Bernie every chance he got for years. Bernie never responded to any of his provocations. But one day, when Billy was at it again, one of the students, a girl named Suzie, stuck up for Bernie. When she did, Billy hit her. That’s when Bernie hit Billy. He was defending Suzie.”

“I know Suzie. She works for me.”
Trying to protect a friend—that sounds like something she would do
, Ezrah thought. His mental picture of Suzie faded as he thought again of the scar on Billy’s face. “But he shouldn’t have lost control of his cloud.”

“Billy had him down on the ground and was hitting him over and over. Do you know anyone who could control their cloud with that going on?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Zachariah, the headmaster, banished Bernie from school until he could be evaluated. He also required Bernie get additional training to control his cloud. Finally, they determined it was an isolated incident, and they let him come back.”

“But still…”

“Will you stop saying that? Bernie felt awful about it. I think that’s why he’s such a pacifist. He can’t stand the idea of hurting someone ever again.”

“What happened after Bernie returned to school?”

“Billy never stopped picking on him. Billy’s a mean-spirited kid, and he and his buddies made life hard for Bernie. I remember a story that went around the teachers’ lounge about Bernie’s clothes—”

“I heard about the way he dresses,” Ezrah interrupted. “Gabriel told me he dresses in T-shirts and torn blue jeans. He said it’s in defiance of the school’s dress code.”

“That’s not true. Let me tell you what really happened. One day Bernie came to school dressed in new clothes. He was very proud of them. Billy told him in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear that he really liked Bernie’s new clothes. Then, smirking, he said they used to be his before his mom donated them to the secondhand store. Poor Bernie was mortified.”

“Ouch. That was mean. Something like that leaves emotional scars.”

“That’s when he started wearing the blue jeans and T-shirts.”

“He couldn’t compete, so he went the opposite way, huh?”

“I’d say that’s a good guess. By the time I met Bernie, I found someone who doubted he was as good as the other kids. But he has a lot of talent. He did well in my classes because I wouldn’t let him sell himself short.”

“How did you do that?”

“Let me give you a mental picture of Bernie. He was picked on by other kids, which made him doubt his self-worth. And most of his early building experiences hadn’t gone well. Add to that his chaos cloud, which he can’t always control. Now you have a kid who doubts whether he can succeed. And because of that, he wasn’t doing the preparation or planning he should for his building projects.

“To be really blunt, I wouldn’t let him get away with that mind-set. I told him I knew he had the talent, and I insisted he do the proper planning. After that, his performance improved dramatically.”

“It sounds like you left your mark on him,” Ezrah said.

“No builder gets out of school without taking at least three or four of my classes. I leave my mark on all the kids.” She laughed.

“So, it sounds like you’re an advocate for Bernie to get a job as a builder.”

“Absolutely. You won’t be sorry.”

“Thanks for filling me in on Bernie. It’s always fun to talk with you, Beatrice.”

Stock Boy

Ezrah found his way to the company where Bernie had his co-op job. It was located in Northeast, Section Two, where most of the importers were located. Peter, the owner, stood in the doorway waiting to greet him as he arrived.

“Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Peter. I appreciate it,” said Ezrah.

“I’m glad to help out. You want to talk about Bernie?”

“Yes. He’s applied for a builder job with The Business, and I’m doing background checks to see what kind of young god he is. I talked with a few of his teachers, and now I want to know how he performed as an employee.”

“Okay. Before I try to answer that, can you tell me what you know about my business?” Peter asked.

“Not a lot, really. I know your business is called Good Shimmer Imports, and you’re a supplier to some of the businesses around town. Maybe you should fill me in.”

“Sure. We supply businesses with retail products. We specialize in non-tech products like books, furniture, hand tools, clothes, and kitchenware. We also have a fine range of office supplies, so if you could put in a good word for us with your Supply Division, I sure would appreciate it.”

Ezra just smiled.

After a moment of awkward silence, Peter continued, “We have contracts to maintain the inventories of our customers. For example, we supply several bookstores with whatever books they need. You know how the publishing business works, right?”

“Not really. It’s a bit outside my normal work.”

“Okay. If you’re an author and you want to publish something, you go to the bookstore. They review your book. If they like it, they work out a payment arrangement with you. The bookstore contacts us, and we negotiate a price to publish and deliver the books. We’re then responsible for keeping copies of the book on their shelves until they tell us they don’t want it anymore.

“It works the same for other products too. If you’re a hardware store, and someone comes in with a new idea, you buy it from them and give us the design specs. We manufacture it for you and maintain your inventory of the product.”

“You do all that here?”

“Yep, back in the manufacturing section. Come on. I’ll show you.”
The man is proud of his company
, thought Ezrah.

Peter led the way into a large well-lit back room that boasted four skylights. The square room was divided by three walls that ran the length of the room, yet reached neither the ceiling nor the outside of the room, leaving plenty of room for the push-carts to move up and down the aisles and around the outside of the room. Viewing windows had been mounted every twenty feet, and next to each window was a neatly printed label with planetary reference points for the manufacturer’s location, the contact person, and the contract terms. Hundreds of windows were hung on the walls.