Chapter 5:
Inversion
Upside Down
Total Blackness! Sedona woke in it and had no idea where she was. Hadn’t she been chasing a child in the ruins? Fuzzy headed, she struggled to remember what had happened as she tried to open her eyes. Did a wall fall on her? Was she buried alive? That thought made her try to open her eyes but the light that shone in made her quickly squeeze them shut again. She concentrated on what she felt around her. She seemed to be lying … in a bed?
Experimenting, she swallowed, then she tried clearing her throat. She wiggled her fingers. All good there. Slowly, she tried raising her eyelids again. Oh good, she could see now. She was lying in a bed in a dimly lit room. Carefully, she tried lifting her head. And let out a yelp when she found someone sitting at the foot of the bed, looking back at her.
Startled, she shot up to a sitting position and looked carefully at the person in front of her. It was a woman, and she was clearly one of the sub-humans but… this woman was ancient! She had masses of long white hair, looped up through a cloth wound round her head and her face was full of wrinkles. She looked like some of the elders Sedona had seen in Old Earth portraits. Only her bright blue eyes still looked young. As Sedona continued to stare in amazement, the old woman smiled, just as a curtain at the doorway parted and a man entered the room.
“Oh good, I see our patient is awake now,” he said as he approached the bed.
Sedona shrank back as he approached. What was he going to do to her?
The man stopped moving, as if he realized her discomfort. “Not to be afraid,” he said soothingly. “You had a bad fall and we brought you inside to keep you safe. Cherry here…” and he pointed to the old woman, “has been keeping watch over you.”
“Where exactly am I? And who are you?” asked Sedona. He also was obviously sub-human.
“You’re in our underground housing. And my name is EverGreen.” He grinned at her. “But most people just call me Green. There’s a lot to talk about, but we want to make sure that you’re all right first. Do you think you could manage eating a little broth?”
“Am I your prisoner here?” Sedona was determined to be brave - she did not like the sound of ‘underground housing’.
The man who called himself Green shook his head. “No, of course not. We’re going to get you back up to your place on the surface. Just as soon as we know you’re well enough to survive up there. And after we make sure you won’t reveal our location.”
While they were speaking, the old woman, Cherry, had slipped out of the doorway. Now she was back, carrying a tray with a bowl and plate on it. She placed the tray over Sedona’s lap, and as she straightened up, a little face peeked at Sedona from behind Cherry’s back, making her jump in surprise. It was the little wastrel.
Cherry chuckled and the little girl just smiled at Sedona. EverGreen smiled too as he said “I see you remember this little one. This is Daisy. She helped us find you. Why don’t you go ahead now and have some food? I’m sure you’re hungry.”
Sedona was suddenly very hungry, but also reluctant to eat anything a sub-human gave her. As she hesitated, the little girl quickly leaned forward and broke off a piece of something from the plate and popped it into her own mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and grinned at Sedona.
“Daisy!” scolded the old woman. But she smiled at the child and taking her hand, led her out of the room.
“Well,” thought Sedona, “now I’ve got to go ahead and eat this. I can’t let a little wastrel child be braver than me.” She picked up the bowl and cautiously took a sip. Her eyes popped open. It was amazing! Whatever was in that bowl tasted so good that she had trouble not gulping it all right down. She forced herself to put it back on the tray for a moment.
Then Sedona looked at the odd lumpy thing on the plate. “What is this?” she asked suspiciously. She touched it, and found it slightly warm. She broke off a piece as she had seen the child do, and carefully sniffed at it. It was a scent she had never smelled before, but it made her mouth water.
“It’s bread,” answered Green. “I think you’ll like it. But it is a little chewy so make sure you don’t eat it too fast.”
Of course, the bread was delicious too. She gobbled it up, despite Green’s warning, then slurped the remainder of broth still in the bowl. She looked up at the man, “Thank you for the food, but now what?”
“Now we talk,” he answered. “And we get to know each other a little better. And maybe I can show you some things that will make you see your world a little differently.” He sat on the end of the bed and gestured for Sedona to lean back and get comfortable.
Sedona still had the bowl sitting in front of her. Briefly, just for a second, she considered whamming the sub-human over the head with it and trying to get out of there. But she wasn’t sure she had enough strength to overcome anyone, especially when armed with only a bowl. And she had no idea where to run to, especially if she was truly underground. So, she leaned back against the bed.
“Firstly, you need to know that the story of your world’s history has been changed over the years. Many changes were for political reasons and it probably did not start off as a bad thing – certainly when the environment collapsed everything was falling apart. Many decisions were made, on all sides, in order to keep the peace and maintain survivors.”
Sedona frowned. “What do you mean ‘history was changed’? How can you manipulate history, or change the way things really happened?” She felt protective about her home. Was this sub-human trying to defend his race’s heinous actions?
Green seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. “Stories were changed over the years, bits and pieces were dropped off, entire sections of information went missing, mostly done to emphasize a certain viewpoint. If it happened often enough, eventually the truth – the real history – was lost in the past.”
Sedona shook her head in denial. “I’ve seen things, bits of film from what happened back then.”
Green looked sad as he said, “I’m sure you have. But you may not have seen everything you needed to see. Let’s talk about what happened 1000 years ago, then we’ll take a little walk to our Library and you can take a look at some of our artifacts and decide for yourself.”
Sedona wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue this conversation. Still, she was curious, so she decided to keep her opinions to herself until she heard everything Green had to say.
“What do you know about that time, the time when the domes were built?”
“What do you mean domes. I understand ours is the only surviving city.” Sedona was confused.
“Ah, well. Let’s start there. Other cities also managed to build domes and allow selected people into their shelter. New Minneapolis, the original name for your dome, was one of many. I believe your residents are named after other cities that were lost in the floods?”
“Yes, that’s right,” agreed Sedona.
“That’s a nice custom, a good way to remember what was lost. As you’ll see, the people who live in our world have chosen to be named after plants and animals that are now extinct.”
“Like Daisy?” asked Sedona.
“Yes, that’s right. How did you know that a daisy was a plant?”
Sedona smiled, “I love going to our museum where my favorite things to look at are the old paintings of the outside world. The ones called landscapes. There’s one with a big field full of white flowers and the title of the painting is ‘Daisies’”.
“If you get a chance to talk to our Daisy again, please let her know about that painting. But back to what I was saying, the environment started going very bad, very fast. Some people had planned ahead and congregated in the center of the cities where it was easier to maintain control. When they first began building the framework for the domes, no one in the surrounding areas understood what it meant.”
Sedona wanted to show that she too know about that time. “Then when the dome was finished and the people were safe inside of it, the ones who made the disaster - the ones who poisoned the air and burned the ground, the ones who used up all the resources - they tried to tear the sanctuary down.”
Green shook his head slowly. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what you’ve always been told. But it’s not the entire story and I think you’re smart enough, and brave enough to see all of it. Do you feel strong enough to take a little walk with me?”
Sedona nodded, eager to get her bearings and to see where she was. She felt a flicker of hope - maybe there was a way she could get out of here. They both stood up and as Green held back the fabric hanging at the doorway, Sedona stepped out into a wide tunnel. A tunnel with no end in sight!
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