The Eden Project Pt. 02 Ch. 10

Part II

Chapter 10: The Only Future

Hannah exited first.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she tossed her suitcase aside on the pavement and scooped up two of the younger ones, who shrieked with glee. "Hi babies, I missed you!" Several other kids chattered at her and tugged at her dress, vying for attention.

Ellie managed one out of three steps down before a multitude of kids surged forward and blocked her progress.

"Hi Miss Elizabeth, I'm Priya."

"I'm Alex."

"Miss Elizabeth looks like she doesn't feel good."

"HEY!" A mid-30's man with a mop haircut had jogged forward out of the adult coalition. "Kids, back off. We talked about this. Space." He began herding them backwards.

"Yeah, listen to Mister Sven, guys, I know you're excited but remember this is new for her," Riley called.

All of this entered Ellie's ears in a muffle. Her eyes were still tunneling, and she knew from experience that she was descending into a panic attack. She shakily lowered herself and sat on the stairs. Ellie began taking deep, deliberate, even breaths to quell her pounding heart.

Riley touched her shoulder blade from behind. "Hey, you okay?"

Ellie nodded, still breathing evenly. She was concentrating on taking stock of each of her limbs and their exact position; a grounding technique for panic attacks she had been coached through.

The solid fiberglass stairs supported her butt and upper thighs firmly. The steps weren't going anywhere until Ellie decided otherwise. Her hands made very real contact with her knees, palms warm against her kneecaps. Ellie's own feet sat two steps below, sweating a little in her rubber flats. Each of ten toes were present when she wiggled them. They felt capable as always of carrying her weight. All of these were important facts to cling to as she encouraged her heart to resume a normal rhythm.

"Panic attack?" Riley's voice again.

Ellie nodded.

Riley stood up, still at the top of the stairs behind Ellie. "Okay kids, SERIOUSLY. Atras. BACK. UP."

"Miss Hillary gets panic attacks too," one of the little boys told his friend. "She said so."

"I just need a minute," said Ellie between breaths, to no one in particular.

The Black man had dropped his winning smile and stood patiently waiting for Ellie to gather herself. Hannah stood nearby with a little girl who looked roughly five propped on her hip. Her brow was furrowed with concern, but both adults gave Ellie space and did not fuss or hover. She was grateful.

The mob of kids wasn't the trigger. Not entirely. In fact, Ellie supposed, they were exactly as advertised. But the reality of all of this -- personally witnessing what Hannah and Riley had described to her -- was completely shocking in a way that snuck up on Ellie.

Her eyesight began to clear, and she looked up. The kids had given her about fifteen feet of space. The front of the group stood near the wing tip, and they fidgeted and scratched and awaited further instructions. They wore clothing of natural fabrics like cotton and hemp -- not uniform, with personal touches, and clearly skillfully handmade -- but most of them were barefoot. The few that wore shoes were either wearing sandals or canvas-and-rubber sneakers resembling unbranded Converse.

Ellie noticed that very few appeared to have a consistent ancestry; Every skin color was present in nearly equal measure, as well as blends of everything in between.

Behind them, Ellie had correctly identified a converted train station. It wouldn't have been out of place in an Old West film; It looked ancient, it was made of logs, and a covered wooden walkway extended the length of it over what used to be the boarding platform. Though new pavement had been laid for air traffic, a rusty, overgrown set of rails twisted off from the end of the airport and into the canyon they'd just flown through, tracing a mountain stream that fed the lake.

One sharply incongruous detail defaced this historied building: A control tower had been constructed on one side. The control room up top was open-air. Ellie saw a bearded middle-aged man wearing a headset leaning on the railing watching her. He gave a friendly wave when he caught her gaze.

On the other side of the welcoming committee, a dirt road wound toward a cluster of buildings along the shore of the lake. These were also ancient, and Ellie wondered if this had once been an abandoned mining town. A low, damaged, sheer cliff face along the boundary of the village confirmed. These newer settlers had carved words into this rocky face: THE ONLY FUTURE. Ellie looked closer and saw smaller words carved beneath: Respect. Care. Love. Ellie remembered Hannah's goofy mantra in the hotel room.

Further back, where the hillside began to rise, Ellie saw many clusters of newer buildings large and small. Several had tall smokestacks and looked capable of light industry. Most of these were made of logs as well, save for a campus higher on the hill. A group of bizarrely modern facilities constructed of steel, concrete, and glass stood there overlooking the valley. They included an actual observatory that would have been home at a university research lab. Its white dome gleamed in the sun.

Highest on the hillside perched a wooden water tower and two rotating wind turbines.

Beyond the village and further down the lake shore, sweeping farm fields, orchards, and a very large greenhouse -- inconsistently modern like the compound above -- extended the length of the valley along the water until a pine forest halted their progress. Ellie noted a patchwork diversity of crops. Dots of humanity moved around them. Animals grazed in the fallow fields.

Finally, along the lake shore could be observed hundreds of feet and several rows of clotheslines. Enough clothing for a few dozen people were flapping in the breeze.

The picturesque valley -- its teeming little village and vast lake -- was framed on every side by severe mountains that rose well beyond their jackets of pine forest to expose bare, angular rock faces and cliffs.

It was, Ellie admitted to herself, spectacular. Her heart had slowed. She made to get up.

The Black man stepped forward quickly and grabbed her hand to assist. "Elizabeth. It is wonderful to meet you." He had an unctious dialect that Ellie thought might be Jamaican. It came out "Ee-liz-ah-BET."

"I go by Ellie actually."

The man chuckled and shook his head. "Pardon (Pah-den) the kids' welcome signs, then." He turned to the group. "Children! I have just learned that Miss Elizabeth goes by Ellie. That was my mistake, though your posters are still wonderful." He raised his eyebrows and stuck his arms out wide. "Can you all give Miss Ellie the welcome we practiced? Let me hear it!"

"WELCOME TO EDEN, MISS ELLIE," chorused the crowd. Ellie heard a couple of stray "Elizabeth"s from the younger kids slower on the uptake. Several of the kids chirruped Ellie's name repeatedly, trying it out.

"Sorry," said Hannah to the Black man. She had deposited the little girl back with the group. "Should've let you know in the email. Ellie, this is Thaddeus. He's one of our counsel members. He'll be showing you around today."

"Cool name," said Ellie, and she meant it.

"My friends call me Tad," he said, extending his hand again to shake Ellie's and formalize their acquaintance. "Are you feeling better?"

He was about three inches shorter than Ellie and bounced on his heels as he spoke. Smiling appeared to be his default expression. Deep smile lines etched his cheeks and converged into well-developed crow's feet around intense, somewhat bulging brown eyes. Like Hannah, he carried himself with childlike flamboyance, belly protruding under his shirt buttons. Perfectly comfortable in his skin. Underneath his exuberance, however, Ellie noted dark circles around his eyes that carried decades of stress and burden.

"Yeah, I'm getting there, thanks... I think I was just a little caught off guard," said Ellie. "It's beautiful here." Though it was June, and Phoenix was baking in triple digits, a cool breeze here complemented the warm sun.

"Yes, we like it," said Tad, as though Ellie had just remarked on his new swimming pool. He peered over his shoulder at the buildings. "I think it is coming along perfectly."

"Hannah said you're on a 'counsel'?"

"Yes, the project counsel," said Thaddeus. "For the moment."

"He's being modest," said Hannah flatly. "We've re-elected him every year for over twenty years. He's not going anywhere."

"We will see what happens," said Tad, bowing his head humbly, but he looked flattered. He turned to Hannah. "Do you have her non-disclosure?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," said Hannah. She jogged over to her suitcase.

Ellie realized she'd given the children almost nothing in the way of greeting. She waved tentatively at the crowd, and several of them waved back; however, many of the kids had already grown bored and were talking amongst themselves or rough-housing with each other. The dozen adults had worked their way into the group, like shepherds among their flock, fielding requests and answering questions.

"Thank you," said Tad, as Hannah returned with the packet. He tri-folded the paperwork and slid it into his pocket. "So, Ellie, normally at this point we would take you on a tour and show you what this is all about. Then we will feed you dinner and send you on your way so that you can have a good think and make a decision about whether you would like to be part of our little adventure." Tad bobbed his eyebrows on that last word. He gave Ellie the vibes of a Disney tour guide. "Does all of that sound agreeable to you?"

"Sure."

"Would you like to meet some of the children on the walk over?"

Ellie hesitated, somewhat intimidated. "Yeah I guess I can do that."

"Wonderful." Tad smiled. "Okay children, eyes over here!" He clapped his hands three times and waited for most of the group to comply, then: "Miss Ellie and I would very much like for you to walk with us and maybe -- ONE AT A TIME -- Miss Ellie would like to meet you. If you do not get your turn to say hello, you will have plenty of time later. Am I understood?"

A smattering of 'yes's.

"And where are you going when we get back?"

"BACK TO SCHOOL," they chorused.

"And then what are you going to do?"

"LISTEN TO OUR TEACHERS."

"Because why?" He raised a palm theatrically behind one ear.

"BECAUSE WE ARE THE ONLY FUTURE."

"Because you are the ONLY future, that's right! Okay, children! On me."

The kids looked at ease - even bored - as they all followed Tad, but Ellie got a renewed chill from this chanted maxim. She wondered if the kids fully understood what was expected of them. She was also unsettled to realize that she was questioning the apocalypse narrative less and less. The scale of resources being poured into this place was now incontrovertible, so it had to be for some purpose.

She got the notion that this wasn't Tad's first rodeo, but also that the children might have been prepped unusually last-minute for Ellie's arrival. The 'Welcome Miss Elizabeth' posters became adorable to her. Context clues suggested that her arrival was something of a rare treat they were allowed to leave school for.

The kids converged on Ellie, far more gently this time, as Tad led them toward the dirt road. Hannah had picked up her suitcase and was dragging it rattling and bumping behind her on the pavement a few yards away, answering the kids' questions about her trip.

"I can take your suitcase back to the house, Hannah," came Riley's voice. She jogged over to Hannah. "I'll keep it next to the plane until I go up. You don't have to drag it around all day."

"Oh, thanks," said Hannah. Ellie was startled when she kissed Riley on the mouth in appreciation. But Riley took it in stride. She deposited Hannah's suitcase next to the jet wing before she hustled away to join the man in the control tower.

As Ellie walked, flummoxed again by these sexual oddities, she tugged at her slipping shorts. It was becoming distinctly irritating.

"Is Miss Ellie like Miss Elizabeth but shorter?" The question came from a small boy walking to her left.

"It sure is," said Ellie. "What's your name?"

"Todd. Did you um... did you... were you... did you like flying in the airplane?"

"I guess I did, yeah," said Ellie.

"I think it looks scary but Miss Kelsey says it's not."

"Well, Miss Kelsey's right about that. Who's Miss Kelsey?"

"Um she's a, um, she's one of the teachers."

"I WENT ON THE PLANE ONCE"

This time a little girl, about seven. Ellie was surprised to hear that. "Really?"

"Uh huh," she said. "Because I wanted to see what it's like."

"What flying is like?" asked Ellie.

The girl shook her head. "What other places are like."

"Oh my goodness, that sounds like a big deal! Where did you go?" Ellie searched for Hannah and met her gaze. You really let them leave? Hannah smiled gently and merely redirected Ellie's attention back to the girl.

"It was called San..."

"Francisco," another adult with an Indian accent finished for her. It was the woman Ellie saw breastfeeding the toddler earlier. She was still topless, wearing only sandals and baggy-legged green linen pants with flared ankles. Her substantial rounded front suggested she was in her third trimester. She walked with one hand supporting her belly. "Hi. I'm Saanvi." She shook Ellie's hand.

Nobody paid attention to Saanvi's half nudity. The kids didn't seem to find it interesting in the slightest. Ellie did her best to fall in line, but Saanvi caught her looking. "Oh. Yeah." She gave a shrug that said What are ya gonna do? "I'm a heavy producer and some of the littler ones still like to breastfeed when they come to school. It helps me keep the pressure down while I'm at work."

"Huh," said Ellie. That's a concept.

"I'm lucky I don't sunburn very easily."

"Speak for yourself," said Hannah. "I wouldn't bother with tops either if I didn't just fry. Hey, Micah, why don't you finish your story?"

The little girl with travel experience continued. "Mister Seamus and Miss Tara took me to San Francisco in the plane. That's in Cal..."

"Ifornia," Saanvi finished for her again.

"California," parroted Micah.

"I LOVE San Francisco," said Ellie. "I think it's so pretty. Did you like it?"

"No," said Micah matter-of-factly, "It was loud and people were mean to me."

"Nobody was mean to her. At least according to Seamus and Tara," said Saanvi. "She's just not used to people ignoring other people they don't know. Apparently she had a bit of a meltdown over it when they took her to a Giants game. Strangers pulled away from her when she tried to hold their hands."

Ellie imagined little Micah, standing between her chaperones (who would look like a standard set of parents) in front of a stadium concession stand, wailing because none of the new and exciting people wanted anything to do with her. It was a heartbreaking image.

"They had another city on their itinerary," continued Saanvi, "but Micah was done. She demanded to come home early."

Micah, who was now holding Saanvi's free hand, nodded at the end of her explanation.

"That's how it goes most of the time," said Hannah. Todd was riding on her shoulders now. He pulled at Hannah's curls, which made her wince. "Some of them get curious, and we take them wherever they wanna go. Then they just lose interest once they see the alternative. Ow! Todd, lighten up a little or I'm gonna have to put you down."

"The other kids hear the lack of enthusiasm, too," said Saanvi. "We don't get a lot of requests."

Ellie scanned the group again as they walked, and noticed that the kids were distinctly very affectionate with each other. Younger children held the hands of older children. Many kids gave each other piggy-back rides or walked arm in arm. It was cute.

"Didn't you say you had to get over people leaving?" Ellie asked Hannah.

She nodded glumly. "Mostly I was just talking about recruits who turn us down, but yeah, we have our departures as well. It doesn't happen often, but it's more common to get full-on rummies with the older kids."

"Rummies?" Repeated Ellie.

"Sort of a play-on-words with Rumspringa", said Hannah. "Like the Amish. Teenage rebellion and all that. Some of them just find the outside world really compelling, and yeah. We let them go."

"Do they land on their feet? How do they land on their feet?"

Ellie had seen documentaries about the Amish Rumspringa tradition. She knew that, though the Amish boasted about most people coming back from their compulsory visit to the outside world, Ellie's impression was that they usually only did so because they were otherwise left with no support system.

"There's a trust fund for them," said Saanvi this time. "More than enough money to support them until the gamma burst. And if they're not eighteen yet, we get them placed with a family until they're adults and the trust sets in."

Ellie noted that Saanvi didn't keep her voice down when she said "gamma burst". None of the kids reacted or asked questions.

Huh. So they do know.

After a pause, a third child piped with an unrelated question. He looked about nine or ten.

"Does fund mean money?"

"Yes, Jacob," said Saanvi.

"So they need the fund to eat and stuff?"

"Yes, they do."

Jacob's nose crinkled; the idea seemed perverse to him.

Welcome to fuckin' Oz, Dorothy.

Ellie snorted. She imagined that phrase written on the kids' welcome posters.

"What?" asked Hannah.

"Nothing," Ellie said, grinning. She thought Jacob's disgust was somewhat valid when one considered selling blood platelets for grocery money.

They'd reached the point where the road widened into the old town high street; where perhaps, once upon a time, grizzled sheriffs held pistol duels with black-hat ne'er-do-wells from yonder. The ancient hotels, saloons, and tack shops had been renovated and presumably repurposed. Power lines hung loosely between them. Ellie noticed, however, that none of the windows had glass; Instead, heavy drop shutters hung open over each frame.

"No windows?" asked Ellie.

A man nearby laughed. It was Sven, with the mop cut. "Yeah, we haven't really gotten the hang of pane glass yet. It's more difficult than you think. Most of the time the weather is good enough to open the shutters and let the breeze flow, but in the winter we have to sort of batton down the hatches, as it were. I know. Ridiculous," he responded to Ellie's incredulous look. "But it's tolerable."

At the head of the pack, Tad pivoted on the spot and clapped his hands three times again for attention. The babbling ceased.

"Okay children, you know the deal. Back to class. Say goodbye to Miss Ellie."

A few obligatory "Awwwww"s from the group.

"I know, it's so cruel," called Saanvi. "Come on, guys, listen to Mister Tad."

The kids shuffled reluctantly after the dozen-odd adults whom Ellie had now surmised were teachers. A few kids held their hands as they were led to a building at the end of the lane; an old wooden church that had been restored and then added to. Long, one-story wooden extensions symmetrically flanked the limits of the church, making room for multiple classrooms.

Ellie remembered the specifically non-religious mandate of the project, and thought that a church converted to a school was a bit on-the-nose. Whoever made that call had a sardonic sense of humor.

Hannah stayed behind, waiting with Ellie for Tad to rejoin them.

Tad rubbed his hands together as he approached. "They are wonderful, aren't they? Okay, let's get started."