Akil woke up with emptiness in his head and no sense of space or
time. As he started to take control of himself, he felt the cold of the floor
he had been laying on eating his pale naked body.
The darkness had taken over the place, so Akil kept
his eyes closed. A few minutes passed; Akil first
started to move his heavy head and arms, and then his legs. As he attempted to
stand up: a big noise and an annoying light trembled
his serene silence. Two men opened the door that separates his dark room and
the outside. An intense shock squeezed Akil and made
his blood crash against his veins. The intense light that invaded his serenity
shaded the two men silhouettes.
"Stand up and come with us," said one of the two men.
Akil stood up with difficulty and followed the two
men who were waiting for him outside the dark room, without resistance or
questioning, as if he knew his fate.
As Akil stepped out, the two men stopped him and
asked him to face the wall with his hands up. One of them splashed Akil’s body with water, scrubbed his body, and then flushed
him one more time, with a second bucket of cold water from head to toe. Then
they handed him a white robe and a pair of sandals to put on.
"Now, follow us. We will take you to your destiny," said one of the
two men.
Akil was still too weak to sustain this sudden
disturbance that shook him with no warning in the last past few minutes.
Akil walked through a uniform, flat space. There was
no sky, clouds, mountains, hills, trees, or noise. All one could see is white marble
all over the place.
The long walk ended when Akil and the two men had to
cross a bridge that led to a big golden gate as high as 400 feet. At the entrence, the two men stopped and rang a little bell that
one of them took from his pocket.
In a split second and unexpectedly, a man opened a little door was and asked
them to come in.
Akil did not react to anything; he was spaced out
than cognizant. As the two men and Akil passed the
stony little door; Akil felt a shortness of breath as
his eyes crossed the new landscape; the place is familiar.
The two men took Akil to a cleric to whom Akil did not identify but his masculine voice.
"I am going to read you your rights. If you have any questions, I am here
to answer them," said the cleric.usculin voice
The First Law states: “You are entitled to have a house with a garden, swimming
pool, server, food and access to the public library. Now do you have any
questions concerning this?" said the cleric.
"No," Akil replied with a low voice.
The Second Law states: “You are not allowed to make or produce any artifact or
make food on your own. If you need anything, just tell your server. Any
questions, sir?" said the voice.
"No, no" said Akil.
The Third Law states: “Do not yield to temptation except during the period of
full moon. If you get caught, you will be sent to zone two," said the
cleric.
"What is zone two?" asked Akil.
"This is the fourth law." said the cleric, and he continued.
The Fourth Law states: “There are two zones. Zone one is communal, peaceful,
and protected by unbreakable laws, and zone two is open
for your imagination. If you want the communal life, you stay here. If you
change your mind you can go to zone two but you can not come back."
"What is in zone two?" said Akil.
"As I said before, it is open for your imagination." replied the
cleric.
The Fifth Law states: “If you offend any citizen of zone one, you lower your
status by becoming a server forever," said the cleric.
The cleric looked at Akil and asked "do you have
any questions concerning this before I continue?"
"No," said Akil.
The Sixth Law states: “Do not write, suggest, propose, or promote ideas
concerning the community of zone one's well being and prosperity. If you get
caught you will be sent to zone two. Do you have any questions about
this?" said the cleric.
"No, I am ok." said Akil.
The Seventh Law states: “You are prohibited to talk about your past, if you get
caught, you pass to zone two."
The Eighth Law states: “You can do whatever with the server; if you kill him
you will be a server for someone else. Any questions?" said the cleric.
"No." said Akil.
The Ninth Law states: “If you respect the law of zone one during the period of
ten full moons, you will receive an extra server. Any questions?" said the
cleric.
"No." said Akil.
The Tenth Law states: “If you have ten servers you can be a member of the zone
one board of trust. Any questions?" said the cleric.
"Do I have a key for my place?" said Akil.
"No, that is a part of the fifth law." replied the cleric.
"Now, sign here and you are free to go to your place at the address inside
this envelope." said the cleric.
Zone one is populated with adults of both sexes and different races; Akil did not understand why people wear common uniforms if
they have all kind of clothes. What caught Akil’s
attention is the fact that it is rare to see people outside of their houses; or
they they make eyes contact, if they do they smile
and walk away.
Akil’s house is big and comfortable. He has a fancy
swimming pool and tropical garden around it. A marble wall thirty feet high, separates Akil’s property
from the neighbors’ from all sides.
Akil was surprised that his server is a woman and
does not talk except nodding her head. She obeys his instruction verbally. She
is allowed to go with him outside if he asks her to do so; but she does not
have to smile or receive instructions or help anyone else.
Akil spent the first half of his day discovering his
property and exploring a part of zone one with his server.
"Reason" is the name Akil gave to his server.
He talks to her even she does not reply. She acknowledges him and satisfies his
needs silently. He asked her many times to act like him, sit and eat with him
rather than standing up and watching him. He urged her, and then ordered her to
sit and eat with him.
Akil is attracted by Reason’s eye the most. He still
can’t explain this attraction. She is the only person in zone one he is
comfortable with and he can talk to even though nothing comes out of mouth.
From her eyes, he could see easily whether she is in grief, if she is anxious,
angry, bored, or excited about something.
He still could not understand the reason why she became a server? His
willingness to know about her is as important as knowing what is going on in
zone one and zone two. In fact, he never acted as a master to her.
Every time she moves around him, she gets his attention. The spark from her
eyes attracts him more and more like a ship to a light house. She is moving him
and steering his inside more then he does.
As days passed, Akil recovered most of his strength,
but he got bored from his loneliness and solitude. He could not find anyone to
talk to except Reason.
He looked at her standing up while he is lying on his luxurious couch. Too many
questions and thoughts pop up;
"If Reason could talk and tell me what is on her mind, that would make me
the happiest person in zone one. The law allows me to do whatever I want with
her. I will make her talk and I do not care what language she may speak."
said Akil to himself.
"I won’t stay here eating and resting like a retiree. I have to better
understand this place. By making Reason communicate with me, I will avoid
troubles. This is the first thing I ought to do. It is not just a need. A
single spontaneous offense will put my life in jeopardy."
While he was hanging around, Akil identified three
citizens of zone one. They smiled to him and kept looking at him for period of
time. Strange thoughts came to his mind: "Did they try to tell me
something indirectly? Maybe they got bored like me and they tried to figure
something out to get away from this routine. I think, I will ask Reason to hand
them a written message or invite them to my place in order to check out their
senses. This will help me to know better about citizens of zone one and have
some friends one can trust." Akil said to
himself.
Akil thought about a message to send to the two men
the woman he just met last time. He made three drawings of the same ancient
picture of the cave hunters found carved on an ancient cave wall. He also
intentionally did not sign them. Then, he asked Reason to take them to his
friends. He slicked a note on top the package:
"Hope the three of you may like the painting. I am inviting the three of
you for a cup of tea tomorrow at noon at my place.
All my best wishes."
Reason came back, and Akil realized that her face
expresses an extreme anxiety; her face is usually very relaxed. He smiled to
her and asked her if the three people had their painting. She answered by yes
by nodding her head; but she gave him the impression that something went wrong.
The next day two people come to Akil's house and
knocked his door asking him to go with them to zone one authority office.
There, Akil learned that he broke two of zone one
laws. First they find him guilty of producing artwork that is not allowed by
the law, second he broke the fifth law but hopefully the three citizens dropped
the charges against him. Consequently he will be departed to zone two. He was
asked to sign a paper, and then one guard asked him to follow him to the gate
that leads to zone two. Akil asked the guard if he
can see Reason for the last time; the guard told him that he lost all rights in
zone one and he had to leave now.
As Akil was heading to cross the gate that separates
the two zones, he stopped to look back; a flash of memories of Reason flooded
his mind.
The guard opened the gate and asked him to pass. Akil
left zone one with no sense of any attachment only some images of Reason
remains vivid in his head.