"Good," said Thomas. "They are very smart in 52 Iowa. I wish I had been bred there. Did I tell you I was from 7 Illinois? that"s very close to Iowa. "
"Yes, you have," said Jordan. He continued, "The 52 Iowa is my waterhammer. I terminated a gaffer two months ago. The waterhammer used his equipment to try to extract the gaffer from the load. He couldn"t succeed, and he did not. I asked him why he tried. He said he felt very comfortable with that gaffer. He never feared for the safe function of his machine or an error with the gaffer around. He said he was afraid the new gaffer wouldn"t supply him so much comfort. "
"If he has caring," said Thomas, "the book will be safe. Otherwise, we will wait many times the length of our lives for this chance to come again. Such is the way. Love will save the men. "
"I still don"t understand love, Driver Thomas. "
"None of us do. Not one of us ever has. "
"How do we know it exists?"
Driver Thomas took a deep breath forcing Jordan to exhale, then wince against the pain of Thomas" ribs crushing against his.
Thomas said, "We have only the word of Timer Andrew who visited the surface for a short time and brought the book into the world. "
"Maybe Timer Andrew was defective. Maybe he misunderstood what he saw on the surface. "
"Timer Matthew told me that Andrew was very smart. He said that Andrew was able to refine the ore to purity at volumes never achieved before. He is the only man who has been allowed to live beyond his termination date. "
"Did he know love? Did Timer Matthew?"
Thomas said, "Timer Matthew never completely understood the word. Like most of us, he believed the book held simple commands but he couldn"t understand them. He read the book many times but there were so many unknown words. All he could do was give the book to me and pa.s.s the knowledge of Timer Andrew. "
"Love will save all men," Jordan said the command without feeling. "What good is it? What good is it if we don"t know what it means? We have our lives. We work and are terminated. What else is there? Why do we need to be saved? What does it mean to be saved?"
"Timer Andrew saw many things on the surface. He saw many men with functions he didn"t understand. He wondered if the purpose of men was wrong.
Perhaps the purpose should be changed. This is what he meant when he said we should be saved. "
Jordan swallowed and waited for his time to breathe. "Driver Thomas," he said. "How can the purpose of men be wrong? Men live to mine the ore. We work well and are promoted to new functions. Each function is more challenging and exciting than the one before. When we do very well we have the sunroom. We have our lives and our rewards. Why isn"t that enough?"
Thomas lay silently, catching his breath, timing his breathing with Jordan"s. Thomas said, "I don"t know, Loader Jordan. To me, there seems perfection in our system. I remember my training at 7 Illinois breeding farm. I was excited to come down to the world to become a gaffer. When I was a young gaffer, I dreamed of operating the hammer. From the hammer to the loader, from the loader to the transport train. Now as a transport driver I want nothing more than to attain the timer position. How I want to schedule the ore arrival at the plant, to plan the flow through the refinery. Many times I"ve thought, "All I desire is to perform the timer function for one work period before I"m terminated. " I have only 400 work periods left. "
"The job of a driver is not dangerous. You are not expected to die-not like the poor gaffers. Surely you"ll last to be promoted before long. "
"But the word," said Thomas. "the word of Timer Andrew and the book he brought into the world make me feel ill. I feel strange in my thinking as if I"m diseased. I believe the word of Timer Andrew is right. I feel my belief in him as I feel my desire to become a timer. I know I must follow his instructions but I can"t understand them. "
Jordan could feel the need for air press against his abdomen. He tried to take a deep breath but succeeded only in hurting Thomas. He could feel the muscles in Thomas"s neck tighten as he strained to breathe.
"Another millimeter in the chest, Loader Thomas, and I"ll suffocate for sure. I"m not as strong as you are. "
"I will try to breathe calmly," said Jordan.
"Here is the lesson for today," Thomas said. "This is something Timer Matthew told me when I was a loader. Timer Andrew said that on the surface men are not bred on farms. Men are bred from each other. their love creates men. "
Jordan breathed deeply again and Thomas strained to hold air in his lungs as Jordan compressed him hard.
"Loader Jordan, please!" Thomas said in pain.
"Those words make no sense at all. "
Thomas waited for the pain to subside before he spoke again. "Timer Andrew said that all men on the surface were different from the men in the world. Each man"s body has a different shape. Their skin is not smooth like ours. They have something like clothing growing from their bodies as we grow arms and legs. It"s like the strands from torn work clothes. He said that some had an additional limb with which they could produce love. Other"s had no additional limb but had a body shape different from both the men with the limb and the men like us in the world. When these two types of surface men touched, they could produce love. this love produces other surface men. "
Loader Jordan lay still imagining the grotesque shapes a.s.sumed by the surface men.
"I don"t expect you to understand it, Jordan. Timer Andrew said we need only keep the word alive and the day will come when a man will understand. He will teach the others. "
Suddenly, Jordan"s memory brightened. He felt the poke in his back. "My waterhammer. . . ," he started, but there was a strong vibration as the sleeping chamber rotated vertical and bolts on the cover to the coffin slammed open. The sleep period had ended.
"The word lives in me," Thomas said quickly.
"The word lives in me," Jordan repeated. The coffin door swung open and Jordan dashed into the flow of men as they moved down the catwalk to the dressing area. Jordan joined them in dim yellow light. No one noticed when Driver Thomas emerged from the same sleep chamber only seconds later.
The waterhammer found a rich vein of ore and Jordan was happy. He was sure to double his tonnage for the day. His time in the sunroom would be increased tenfold. There would be no reward for the waterhammer or young gaffer. They could only hope to be promoted to loader someday. Then they would receive a name and the privilege of reward for tonnage logged.
There was a new gaffer that day. He had come from farm 52 Iowa and he treated his job with the enthusiasm and ignorance typical of the young boys. They threw their tiny bodies into the paths of the great machines. They pulled impurities from the ore and performed perfunctory maintenance on the machines that bored into the rock. They followed the waterhammer deeper and deeper into the ore veins carrying their tool, a heavy crowbar. They kept the hoses and cables that fed the machines out of the way of the loaders and other waterhammers.
Jordan"s waterhammer had just been promoted from gaffer. He was young enough in his job to be excited about his first position operating the heavy machinery. Then he trained his blade of high pressure water on the rock and cut the ore like a surgeon removing a tumor. Waterhammer had vision. It was as if he would see the ore behind the layers of worthless rock.
Waterhammer"s hoses snagged on the growing pile of hewn rock and the helmeted gaffer ran out in front of the loader to unsnag them. Jordan stopped his machine just inches from the child.
"Gaffer, watch where you"re going," Jordan said into his communicator. The child stood and pressed his hand to his neck. He squinted. The pain in his ears would be intense for several weeks. It would take months before his hearing would decay to a level that would allow him to work comfortably in the mine. Soon he would be completely deaf and rely entirely on his implant for aural input. The crashing of the machinery pounded his young ears and made it difficult for him to understand the voice that came directly from within his brain.
"Gaffer, clear the waterhammer and get out of the way of the loader," Jordan ordered. Finally understanding, the boy pulled the hoses free and ran to a safety along the edge of the freshly hewn tunnel.
In his plastic armor, Waterhammer walked forward several steps and trained the liquid blade on the ore vein in the wall in front of him. From safe within the loader"s cab, Jordan could see rocks, steam, and pebbles burst out from in front of the man. Jordan scooped up several shovel loads and placed them into the waiting train carrier. He calculated the tonnage in his mind.
He planned his time in the sunroom. First, he would lay naked on his back on the table and absorb the warmth on his face. Then he would roll to his stomach and feel his back muscles loosen.
A flash of light brought him back to his senses. The gaffer burst out in front of the loader. The child"s body flashed bright in the loader"s headlights like a strobe as the kid ran past. Jordan jammed on the brakes.
"I may not be able to avoid terminating if you continue this behavior," Jordan said into the communicator. He gunned the loader"s engine and released the air brake. As the tires began to roll the kid ran in front of the loader"s shovel blade and stopped. He stood staring at Jordan. His eyes bored into Jordan"s mind.
Jordan pressed his foot onto the brake pedal and slowed the machine. The shovel inched toward the child.
"Get out of the way, gaffer. I need to collect the load. " Jordan calculated the ma.s.s of the ore already freed by waterhammer. He would need every moment of the work period to get all that rock into the delivery train. His foot lightened on the brake. the kid stood his ground.
Jordan stared into the kid"s eyes from the cab. He released the brake and the huge machine lurched forward. The young gaffer didn"t move. Instead, he held his hands forward toward Jordan. He held his hands palms up and cupped them as if he was holding something invisible.
The loader jolted to a halt. At first, Jordan couldn"t figure why. He checked the engine statistics automatically expecting to see a mechanical failure. There was none. It was only when he looked back toward the gaffer that he felt the tension in his leg. His foot shook as he pressed down on the brake pedal.
A feeling he had never felt before rippled down his spine. Why had he stopped? the load was dry and waiting. Raw tonnage for the taking. Time in the sunroom.
The kid turned slowly and knelt. As the gaffer sank below the shovel, Jordan put the machine in reverse and pulled backward until he could see him again.
He stood on the brake pulling himself up out of his seat and aimed the loader"s headlights on the gaffer.
The boy knelt aside the waterhammer who had gotten tangled in his hoses. He lay amid the rock, his equipment damaged, a thin stream of blood running onto the mine floor beside him.
Jordan typed a command into his console.
DAMAGE TO THE WATERHAMMER. PLEASE REPAIR.
He waited a few seconds for the request to transmit.
The response came: REPLACE OR REPAIR?
Jordan thought. He could have a replacement in under seven minutes. He could drive over the gaffer and the waterhammer and collect the load and no one would question his decision to terminate the men. He"d tell control to wash the ore. they"d deduct half the tonnage and replace the crew.
It could take hours to repair the waterhammer. Jordan"s legs shook as he held his leg tense on the brake pedal. He felt himself needing air but he didn"t know why.
He typed the word: REPAIR.
The word "ACKNOWLEDGED" appeared on the console.
Jordan secured the loader in place. The gaffer turned and looked at him. Jordan held his hand up to the cab window for the gaffer to see. The sign. Two fingers. then he waited for the work period to end.
The men queued up in a single file row and removed their coveralls and hard hats. They stood naked and hairless, shivering in the mine"s damp cool air. One by one they got onto the conveyer belt that pulled them through the washing and feeding facility.
As Jordan stood waiting for an empty place on the belt he felt the poke in his back again.
Jordan held two fingers down at his side. As he raised his leg to mount the belt he looked quickly toward Waterhammer. He held up two fingers in "V," then rotated his hand to the horizontal-the sign for sleep. Then he lay on his back on the belt and felt straps seal over him. Warm water coated his body. Brushes scoured his skin. He could feel his abdomen shrink as a robot arm attached a tube to a connection at his waist and removed the liquid and solid wastes from his gut.
He heard the control voice say, "stop breathing," as the belt pulled him into the cleaning solution. His heart rate quickened. He thought he felt the belt stop as it had when he was a young gaffer. Ten men were killed when the belt broke and they were strapped beneath the surface of the cleaning solution. He had just been immersed. He strained against the straps and dislocated his shoulders. He survived by withstanding the pain and forcing his head out of the solution to the air. One wash period in thousands. The memory stayed with him. He imagined it would be with him forever.
His desire for air increased with his fear until he felt he would be forced to inhale the solution. But his body broke water into the air and he took his first breath with a gasp.
A robot arm connected a tube to the feeding connector mounted in his side. He felt his stomach fill with the warm nutrient. Then the tube was disconnected and he was moved into a large gallery filled with men. Naked, he walked up the metal stairs and across the steel catwalk to his sleeping chamber.
He felt the tingling in his neck as the control voice said, "Enter the chamber. " He remained standing. "Enter the chamber," the voice said again.
He could feel the vibration in the catwalk as someone walked close behind him.
He turned and saw the waterhammer. Jordan turned quickly and put his arms around him, hugged the muscular man tightly against his body, and pulled him into the upright sleeping chamber.
Waterhammer resisted for a moment. Then he realized what Jordan was trying to do and he yielded. He winced as the door slammed closed and compressed his head and body against Jordan"s.
Jordan moved his head to the side, and Waterhammer"s cheek fell against his. They interlaced their legs and arms. Jordan turned his head. He pressed the control connector on the side of his neck toward Waterhammer"s but he couldn"t make contact.
Waterhammer was nervous. He pulled in air and wouldn"t exhale. Jordan was could only take quick shallow breaths.
"Breathe out," Jordan said with his mouth, hoping Waterhammer was young enough to have some of his hearing. "Exhale or I"ll die. "
Waterhammer exhaled and quickly pulled in air. During the brief moment in which there was enough room for his chest to expand, Jordan inhaled. Then he exhaled again.
Jordan felt Waterhammer"s heartbeat slow. As the young man began to breathe calmly, Jordan took in air. He concentrated on the timing of Waterhammer"s breathing, letting the young man breathe freely while he paced himself. Water-hammer shifted his head slightly in the coffin, and Jordan was could press his neck against the young man"s and make connection.
"This is how we pa.s.s the word," said Jordan, forming the words in his mind. "It was time for you to learn. "
"Loader Jordan. Thank you for not terminating me. " the young man spoke through his connector.
Jordan ignored him. He said, "You said you understand the instructions. "
"Yes, oh yes I do," said Waterhammer. When I first read the manual, it didn"t make any sense. I read the commands over and over. Soon, I understood what they meant. "
"What do you think they are?" Jordan asked.
"They are instructions for operating our lives. Maybe they were written a long time ago. It refers to positions and machinery I don"t understand. Are we supposed to follow those instructions, Loader Jordan? this seems like an unauthorized manual. I think I will be section sixty-two"ed if control finds out I"ve learned these commands. "
"That manual is a book, Waterhammer. It"s a manual from the surface. It was written by surface men for surface machinery and positions. Many work periods ago Timer Andrew visited the surface and brought the book down to us. Many men have read it but none of us understand it. The work it describes it hard for us to imagine. "
"This is a surface manual?" asked Waterhammer. "I remember the surface. I was on the surface when I was at the breeding farm. It was a horrible place. Strange machines. No work. Why would we want to keep words from the surface here in the world?"
Jordan said, "You know the words of men, don"t you?"
"Yes, of course. We all know them. I learned them at the breeding farm. "
"No," Jordan said. "Not the words of instruction. Not the reading for manuals and commands, the words of men. " Jordan groped with his right hand and found Waterhammer"s hand next to his. He put his hand under Waterhammer"s and made a fist. He extended three fingers in the sign for "be still. " then he made the sign for "run," a single extended finger.
"You know these," Jordan said. "I know you do. "
"Yes," said Waterhammer. "I learned those at the farm too. "
Jordan said, "these are the words of men. Control does not understand these words. The words in the book and the words I give you now are also the words of men. Timer Andrew told us. "
"Perhaps Timer Andrew was defective. "
"Many men thought that. But his word requires my agreement. The word requires agreement from many of us. Today I ordered your repair because the gaffer would not yield to the loader. Gaffer"s action required my agreement. "
"He expected you would drive through us," said Waterhammer.
"If he did, why did he put his body in front of me?" Jordan asked.
Waterhammer was silent. He let two breaths pa.s.s between them. Then he said, "I know that gaffer from the breeding farm. He always kept his body close to mine. When we learned he sat in proximity. When we were washed and fed he stood behind me in the queue. He was always close to me in the elevators. Now he is a.s.signed to you as I am and he remains close to me. I think he follows commands from the book. "
"Have you shown him the book?"
"No," said Waterhammer.
"Why do you think he follows the commands in the book if he has never seen the instructions?"
"I think the instructions are in him. I think he has been programmed. "
Jordan said, "Timer Andrew said some instructions were in all of us. Not just the instructions for work, to gaff, to hammer, to load, to drive and to time-but further instruction. Information we know but do not act on. He said one instruction above all would help the men. It"s the instruction, "to love. ""
"I have read that instruction many times. Still, I don"t completely understand it but I feel the instruction in my body. "
"I do too," said Jordan. "And that is why I have chosen you to carry the word of Timer Andrew in secret. You have shown caring. "