Chapter 9
“You don’t look so intimidating.”
“We’re not here to intimidate you.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To reason with you.”
“Is that what you did with my parents? Reasoned with them?”
“Your parents are reasonable people. My partner and I are reasonable people, and we think you can grow into one yourself.”
“I’m not reasonable?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘we’ if he never talks?”
“My partner provides solidarity. Members of the patrol support each other just as the Mod supports the citizens of City. We’re here to support you through the remainder of your studies, to persuade you of what is best for you and your parents.”
“So this is like good cop, bad cop?”
“Read that in a paper book, did you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“That’s not a term familiar to your generation.”
“What term?”
“Good cop, bad cop.”
“Did I say that?”
“Yes, you did, and we’re all good cops here.”
“Do you have a record of my comment?”
“You’ve done your studies, young lady. You know we can’t record our conversation without your consent.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe we can record the conversation?”
“Maybe I’m familiar with the reg. And, no, you can’t.”
“So you read about good cop, bad cop in a paper book?”
“I didn’t say that I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“And why are you both wearing sweaters? It’s not cold in here.”
“Why are you wearing a camisole, jeans, and flats?”
“I’m a girl. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s late summer, and nights are getting chilly outdoors. But you know that. You’ve been going out.”
“Don’t patrol cars have radiant?”
“Of course they do, but we’re a government entity. Wouldn’t be appropriate to use more energy than necessary.”
“So you rely on pre-digital fashions to stay warm?”
“Can’t recharge the patrol car via an elliptical until we return to the station. Pre-digital solutions, such as sweaters, are acceptable when they are more efficient than the alternative or already in existence and easily stored.”
"Like books that were printed before the digital age?”
“So you admit you’ve read one?”
“Just making a point. No crime in reading a paper book.”
“Not on its face, but was it this young man we heard about who introduced you to paper books?”
“What young man?”
“Perhaps Vidalia was telling a lie against you. Hard to believe that a young man adverse to tech could exist in today’s age. You’ve never met such a man, have you, Amelia?”
“The name is Emmy.”
“Emmy? When did your name become Emmy?”
“It is my true name.”
“Your true name is Amelia Lee, and you’ve never met the type of man described to us by Vidalia Palmer, have you?”
“You won’t get me to deny my one true love.”
“We didn’t want you to deny him. We needed an admission of his existence, to corroborate Vidalia’s testimony.”
“You cheated.”
“No, we conversed using the terms you’d established.”
“I didn’t set those terms.”
“Yes, Amelia, you did.”
“Show me the record.”
“There is no record, Amelia. You refused our request to take a record, which protects both parties, and now you have admitted to being under the influence of underage courtship, to harboring affection from a man guilty of crimes against reason.”
“I didn’t say any of that.”
“You didn’t need to, Amelia. You only needed to demonstrate that your testimony was less reliable than that given by Vidalia Palmer, a respected and rational upper class student. You are very young and don’t understand the complexities of emotion you’ve waded into without the appropriate prerequisite studies or compatibility tests.”
“Must everything be governed by a test?”
“We’re not here to discuss everything. We are here to discuss underage courtship and your exposure to irrational pursuits and extraneous physical endeavors.”
“I’m eighteen. The code permits me to marry.”
“That it does, but that same code prohibits you from courting.”
“Then the two regulations are irrational in relation to each other, in which case both are nullified and I am free to court Marco.”
“His name is Marco?”
“You’re not going to trick me again.”
“We weren’t trying to trick you. You offered the name on your own volition.”
“That’s because it is his true name.”
“You mean his invented name and thus useless to us?”
“Precisely.”
“So you are catching on, Amelia.”
“About those regulations, officer?”
“You can call us officers. We like that.”
“I just did.”
“No, you called us officer. There are two of us.”
“And only one of you talks, so I’ll call you officer.”
“You know, Amelia, disrespecting agents of the Mod by ignoring one’s presence will not strengthen your case.”
“Officers, about those irrational regulations?”
"A paradox. And one easily reconciled.”
“How so?”
“You are free to marry, but not to court.”
“Then how do I decide on a suitable partner?”
“You don’t. You can only agree to marry, not engage in selection. Under exigent circumstances, the Mod may propose a partner and your parents may consent.”
“I suppose you won’t propose Marco to them?”
“Your question reflects a sense of humor, a valuable asset to City. Graphic design may not be your suitable calling.”
“Must the Mod choose everything for me?”
“We are not here to discuss everything. Once you are a suitable age, you are free to choose anything you like.”
“You mean after I’ve spent four years doing college nightlies designed to help me internalize the rationale and cultivate skills only useful to its purposes?”
“You show much promise, Amelia. What a waste it would have been for you to marry this Marco and join the transits.”
“Who said we were going to do that?”
“It’s what Vidalia feared.”
“We had other plans.”
“So you were going to join some type of grandfathered enterprise?”
“You want to trap me into another confession?”
“We are only following the terms of the discourse set by you. You were either going to join the transits or not.”
“We were not going to become transitory. Why would we want to do that? It’s beautiful out there, but no place to live.”
“Then you wouldn’t wish a transitory life on your parents?”
“Why would they become transits? They have positions essential to the rationale. They remotely operate agricultural machinery necessary to produce food and actuate shipments to the citizens of City. You wouldn’t want to lose their productivity.”
“Your father is very productive.”
“My mother is, too.”
“She is when she is content, but personalized analysis predicts her productivity will fall to non-supportive levels if we are unable to convince you of the rationale, to re-socialize you. Under those circumstances, now that you are eighteen, we would be forced to commit you to life as a transit. Your parents are not grandfathered to a non-tech trade, so we couldn’t permit you to benefit from City without a corresponding contribution. We cannot force the rationale on you, but we would not be required to support you, either. You would be removed from your home, implanted with a track and restricted from ever returning to your parents flat or any other internal residence within City. We would, of course, monitor your movement. You would have forfeited the right not to be tracked by abandoning the rationale and breaking the social contract. If you were to meet with Marco subsequently, we could hold him accountable for the crimes against reason committed while you were still a student and citizen. He, too, would be tracked and committed to life as a transit. Your mother’s productivity would drop, and after the Mod refused to support an unproductive citizen, your father’s constitution would suffer at the thought of both a wife and daughter living transit. You see where this is going?”
“Maybe living transit wouldn’t be so bad for us.”
“That doesn’t seem to be your true feeling. The lack of security and environmental hazard alone could drastically shorten one’s expected lifespan, not to mention the reduced quality of life without ship or tech of any kind.”
“We could barter.”
“Only with other transits. No one would risk losing citizenship just to exchange for the primitive wares of a transit. And I can assure you the product, if it can even be called that, of the transit population is so inferior to actuated product that your family will be lucky if transit food only brings indigestion and disappointment as opposed to paralysis and a complete psychological breakdown.”
“Sounds like you are speaking beyond your knowledge.”
“If that is the kind of knowledge you desire for yourself and family, Amelia, then there is nothing we can do for you.”
“What are my alternatives?”
“Come with us to a school for troubled youth, a place where you can learn the rationale without temptation.”
“Wouldn’t the other troubled youths provide temptation?”
“There aren’t as many of them as you seem to imagine. After three generations in digital time, most of the young people today understand the benefits of reason, technology and the actuator. They understand the efficiencies that benefit the people of City and the fragile environment on which we still depend for food and water.”
“The environment is fine. You don’t hear me coughing, and you already know I’ve been going out.”
“For short spells, perhaps, but for all our efforts towards efficiency, we have a long way to go before full recovery.”
“What new offsets would you propose?”
“There are always new efficiencies to test, but that is for the Mod to decide. The patrol only administers the law. For now, we are here to discuss your introduction to a suitable institution for continued learning. If you consent, we will expunge Marco’s record. After you finish your degree, if you still wish to join him, you will be a college graduate and free to make that decision. Assuming you don’t pursue a transit’s life, your parents will continue as usual, earning shipments and enjoying their comforts. You will be serving the greater good for yourself and City. But if you rashly commit yourself and those you love to life as a transit, you can never return and neither can they. Shouldn’t they be free to make a choice without your actions determining their destiny?”
“They would be free to choose. Whatever I decide, my parents could continue being productive. I could continue living in their flat and stop going out. I could abide.”
“That’s not what the tests indicate. Your imagination is vivid, Amelia. So much potential, but in this case, your imagination would be proven wrong.”
“How do you know?”
“Think about it logically. Without our help, would you have the strength to avoid seeing Marco? Now that you have felt your heart beat under the intoxication of new love, could you resist temptation?”
“At least my parents could decide for themselves.”
“Don’t you know that their hearts beat for you? If you could not resist seeing Marco, how could they resist the temptation to spiral toward depression in your absence?”
“There must be medicines for that.”
“That, Amelia, is not a subsidized product, and not one they can presently afford. It seems they have spent dearly from Private earnings to provide you a memorable annual dance. A certain dress. Tell us how you would like to repay them.”
“If I complete my studies in this in-person school, will Marco’s record will be expunged?”
“Yes.”
“Could you record that?”
“Recording underway. Repeat the question.”
“Will you expunge Marco’s record if I complete my studies in the in-person school?”
“Yes.”
“Will you agree not to pursue Marco in the interim?”
“Yes. He will be placed on probation until you graduate, and assuming he does not commit further crimes against reason such as pre-courting other young women or persuading students to abandon their studies, we will not pursue young Marco.”
“He would never court another.”
“Then you have nothing to fear.”
“And I would be free to contact my family?”
“You would have complete access to tech. We would not want to stunt your social development.”
“And I would retain my privacy rights?”
“We cannot restrict those rights unless you first commit to life as a transit, but you must forfeit your right to any external travel until your studies are finished. Your parents will be provided two annual visits to the institution.”
“And you would post my whereabouts?”
“Your whereabouts and new contact information will be posted on City’s network for one hour after you agree to the terms and conditions of your institutionalization.”
“And then?”
“After expiration of the original post, your whereabouts will be classified for your protection and to remove any temptation Marco might have in engineering unauthorized contact. He would, however, be free to contact you via digital technology, a concession that would serve the greater good.”
“So that he too may internalize the rationale?”
“You are high speed beyond your years.”
“He will never do it. He will never contact me through chat or video chat or email.”
“Then perhaps he doesn’t love you after all.”
“Or perhaps our love doesn’t depend on tech. Perhaps our love is timeless.”
“Love may be timeless, Amelia, but your time is running out. Do you agree to the negotiated terms?”
“I so agree.”
“Then the terms have been recorded.”