The Methuselan Circuit (2 page)

“Don’t you want to make something of yourself,” Alexander asked. He really couldn’t understand Willy. “If you were around in my Grandfather’s time you’d have been kicked out of the haven and either starved or been made a slave by the Fanatics.”

“Look who’s so smart, the future General,” he sneered.

“I’m with Alexander on this one,” Jonathon replied, looking darkly on Willy. “If you’re just living off government handouts, what good are you? At least be a settler. Then you can make your own rules.”

“You just don’t get it, do you?” Willy started, but a voice cut him off.

“Oh give it a rest Willy,” said another boy. He looked like Willy, but his hair was cut short, his shirt was tucked in and he looked as though he bathed. It was Willy’s twin brother Jimmy, but he insisted everyone call him James. “I’m going to do something, even if all they let me do is be a settler. I’m getting out.”

“You’re an idiot, Jimmy. Dad always said you were an idiot and he was right.”

He shrugged, “Why should I care what Dad thinks. He doesn’t care what I think.”

“That’s alright by me,” Willy said, leaning back and putting his feet on the back of the seat in front of him. The girl sitting there turned around and scowled at him. “We need go-getters like you to support guys like me. Knock yourself out.”

“What happens when Citizens get tired of paying for you to be lazy? You might actually have to support yourself.”

Willy lifted his finger to say something else but a strident voice cut him off. It was the principle.

Sister Mary Katherine was at the podium, her high scratchy voice made to sound even scratchier by the loudspeaker. Many schools had principals or headmasters that were nuns or priests. Just like the dark ages, the Churches kept education going when society broke down during the wars. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!” She only had to say it once. James took a seat in the same row as his brother but not next to him. Then he paid attention; it was something Willy made a point of not doing. Still, Willy shut up and put his feet back on the floor when she looked his way. She gazed over the assembled kids, over six hundred in all. Alexander felt her eyes roving to and fro, gauging the attention of every single student. It was an amazing thing, but Sister Mary Katherine knew every single student by name—all of them.

She was one of those singular adults like his parents. Any word of praise from her was noteworthy. Even a head nod would do. That was the thing, no one, absolutely no one wanted to be on her bad side. Alexander would go through a week of detention rather than one of her scowls of disappointment.

“Shall we stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance?”

It was not a request.

In a thunderous chorus, all six hundred voices said, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of Pan America and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”

Alexander had a feeling of unity when he said those words every morning. It was especially poignant on this day in the assembly. He could only imagine the power behind the words as every kid in school said the pledge from the northernmost island of the Canadian provinces to the southernmost tip of the Argentinean states. Wow! To think that every 6
^th
grader was sitting in an assembly hall just like he was at this very moment; it was really, really cool.

“Welcome to Service Day,” she said. “As you know, for the past seventy-five years it has been mandatory for those who wish full Citizenship and voting rights in our great country to serve in one way or another for a period of sixty-five years and to be active in their respective Reserve corps throughout their lives. This is a small price we must all pay to our country; it is a price that very few paid in my youth and as a result we very nearly lost this blessed world of ours.” She paused to let her words sink in. Alexander listened, but this wasn’t the first time Sister Mary Katherine had told the story. After the Ascension Wars and the Methuselan Invasion of the 21
^st
century, Galactic civilizations were in tatters. The ensuing weakness of an exhausted society led to the religious Caliphate Wars. Alexander shuddered. It could not be allowed to happen ever again!

Sister Katherine continued. “You have all finished a week of testing to see what it is you are adept at, what you enjoy and where it is the country can use you. As with everything else the final decision is yours,” she gave them that stare of hers. “I cannot make you a legionary or a doctor any more than the State can. In the end, it’s up to you to apply yourself and become a useful member of society.” She looked directly at Willy, who withered under her gaze. “If you choose sloth than a sluggard you will be. I’d just as soon let you starve in that case,” she shook her head, “but there are other voices in the palaces of policy other than mine.”

She paused, and turned aside. A line of representatives from the various services climbed the stage. All wore uniforms of different fashion and colors. There was the scarlet and gold of the Legions, the sky blue of the Medical Corps, the white of the Clergy, the sober gray suits of the Republic, the black and silver of the Space Fleet, the green of the Peace Corps and the brown and bronze of Settlers Corps. The students applauded them all.

“Thank you,” Sister Mary Katherine smiled. She turned back to the students, and told them, “Please turn on your individual screens and synchronize your retinal patterns to the sensors.” She said “please” but there was really no choice involved.

Alexander leaned forward and pressed the glowing green button on the back of the seat in front of him. He could hear six hundred other kids go through the same motion. A small video screen popped out of the seat back. It brightened, showing various icons. Alexander touched the icon that looked like an eye. Immediately the screen showed his face and then centered on his right eye. The image expanded until all he saw was his eye. The screen highlighted the structure of his iris, the maze of his blood vessels—“Stay still please”—and took note of the reactions of his pupil by lightening and darkening at random. After twenty seconds it flashed—“Synchronized to Alexander Thomas Aquinas Wolfe, Security Number 989-75-2069-013, address Washington State, Vashon Island, 107
^th
Street, South end. Is this correct?”

He touched the word “Correct.”

Alexander looked up. Sister Mary Katherine was studying her podium screen. After another minute she looked up with an irritated expression of consternation. “Mr. William Jonah Jameson, are you having a problem synchronizing?”

Willy smiled nervously as six hundred pairs of eyes turned toward him. “My dad said I don’t have to do this. I’m free to choose what I want.” His words sounded more certain than his voice. Alexander got the feeling he’d been told what to say and that for all his bravado Willy would rather not have said it.

The Principal left the podium. She walked slowly from the stage down the steps and up the ramp of the assembly, her shoes making sharp echoes in the large hall. She stopped next to Willy’s seat and looked down upon him. He didn’t look back until she gripped his chin and turned his head upward.

“Hey you can’t do that!”

“Young man, I will do what is necessary short of harming you—permanently that is.” There was a hushed chuckle around the assembly. “However, seeing as you believe it is necessary to waste our time, it is well within my rights to ask you why.”

“Because I don’t have to do this,” he said.

“No, you are absolutely right, you don’t have to do this,” she replied. “Do you understand the implications of your decision?”

“Yes,” he said defiantly.

“The answer is actually no,” she said sternly. “When you are eighteen and considered an adult—though by God I’ve met few enough at that age that act like adults—then and not before, you may decide the course for the rest of your life. You are twelve years old young man. You’re far too young to throw away over a century of existence.”

“But my father said,” he began.

“Your father doesn’t get to live your life Willy,” she said more softly, “and you don’t have to live his life. This is about you, not him. This is about your service to our country.”

“What if I don’t want to serve this country or become a Citizen?”

“You will have that choice when you are eighteen, but until then we are setting the course for your next six years. Think of it this way, Willy. The education you get until you’re eighteen will take advantage of what you are interested in and what you like to do. It will enhance and build on your talents. If you decide to use your skills to serve the country afterward wonderful! If not, then you will have become a more talented person for whatever you wish to do—it’s free.”

“Oh all right,” Willy relented and he allowed the screen to synchronize.

Over the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Alexander and his classmates watched presentations by all the Republic agencies that fulfilled the prerequisites for Service that would qualify them for Citizenship. After the presentations they took a break and came back for “Familiarization.”

This was what Alexander was waiting for. He thought the presentations were fine, especially the one from the Fleet and the one from the Legions. Now it was his turn to actually meet some of the men and women from the Services. He went to the Fleet room first. There were literally hundreds of kids there and dozens of officers.

He went to the buffet table and got a glass of juice and a donut—donuts, he hadn’t seen one for years! Alexander tried to worm his way in close to one of the officers, but there was a lot of jostling and shoving going on. Eventually, he just ended up wandering around on the fringes of the groups, listening to one officer and then another, but generally accepting that he wouldn’t get to actually talk to anyone.

“You’re listening,” said a baritone voice from behind. He turned to see a Legionary Officer standing there looking at him. He wore a scarlet tunic with black trousers and high topped boots. A red, white and blue sash crossed his chest. On his collar he wore the golden leaf of a Major. He nodded and smiled. “The first rule of command is to listen.” He looked at all the other boys and sighed. “Most of these boys are too busy jabbering away at how cool it would be to do this or that, without having the first clue of what they’re talking about.”

He bit his tongue. Would he be doing that if he had the chance? Alexander didn’t want to say it, but maybe if he were brave enough or rude enough to put himself forward. The officer seemed to be reading his mind.

“Talking has nothing to do with courage. Standing up for what’s right; that’s what takes courage.” His eyes narrowed. “Believing in what’s right even when your peers say otherwise—that’s what we look for.” He held out his hand. “I’m Major Gardner, I’m very happy to meet you.”

Alexander shook his hand as firmly as his own father taught him to. “I’m Alexander Wolfe. I’m honored to meet you sir.”

“Very good,” he smiled. He thought for a moment, and finally asked, “Why is it you want to be in the military Alexander?”

“I want to serve my country. My father served,” he said.

“He did, and with distinction,” Major Gardner said. “This is about you. I see you’ve done projects on Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. History interests you then?”

“Certain types of history, but not all,” he admitted. “We just finished the Mayan and Chinese cultures. I didn’t like them very much. The Mayans were bloodthirsty and the Chinese rulers were cruel.”

“Did you learn anything from them?”

“Yes, you can even learn from your enemies,” he said, no longer intimidated by the officer. This was stuff he knew. “I read about Napoleon. The English and everyone else thought he was a tyrant, but he established schools for everyone and government systems that we still use—that doesn’t sound like much of a tyrant.”

The Major laughed. “You’ve a good head on your shoulders, Alexander. You know, however, that the military isn’t easy. We’d push you hard. It’s not an easy life but it is a proud one.”

“I would be proud to serve,” Alexander said, meaning every word of it.

“Would you be willing to take another test or two,” the Major asked. “I know you’ve been up to your ears in tests, but that’s the way it is.”

“Sure, I don’t have to be home for a while and I don’t want to go to the other places.”

“You don’t want to check the Clergy out; you’re an Altar Server aren’t you? Have you considered the Priesthood?”

Alexander was surprised. How did they know all that? Still, he shook his head. “I don’t think so, not now at least. Even though I believe really strongly I think I’m more suited to the Legions or the Fleet.”

“Well then why don’t you follow me,” the Major said, leading the way through a door. “We’re going to test a bunch of you kids who are really, really interested in this. Go in there, someone will administer the test. Good luck Alexander, it was nice to meet you!”

“It was nice to meet you sir,” he said, politely shaking the Officer’s hand. Alexander went obediently through the door. There was a short hallway and another door at the end. He opened it and stepped inside. To his shock, he realized he wasn’t in the school anymore.