Brave New Worlds

With all the strength he could muster, Jordan pushed his head past Thomas's. the control connectors on their necks touched.
    The compartment rotated to the horizontal as the door bolts slammed into place locking them in. Carefully, they synchronized their breathing. Jordan exhaled while the other man inhaled.
    "Your body is getting large, Loader Jordan. " Thomas's voice appeared in his head as the voice of control had for years. "I killed Timer Matthew simply by growing too much for my lessons. I'm afraid you will do the same to me. "
    "If you can finish the lessons soon you won't have to worry about that. You'll live happily to full termination age. "
    Thomas exhaled as Jordan took a breath.
    "Don't breathe so heavily. The monitor will register abnormally high oxygen consumption and control will think I'm sick. "
    "Okay," said Jordan. He tried to calm himself. He was eager to get to the lesson.
    Thomas said, "Let's begin then. " the words floated in Jordan's mind. "In the beginning was the word, and from the word came the change. "
    Jordan repeated what Thomas said. He visualized the words and imagined them appearing in Thomas's mind much as Thomas's words appeared voiceless
    inside his own head.
    "Have you found someone to pass the book to?" asked Thomas.
    "Yes," Jordan replied.
    "That's good. Very good. Does he have caring?"
    "I think so," said Jordan.
    "And how could you tell?"
    Jordan hesitated. "He's from farm 52 Iowa. He's first one I've ever met. "
    "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 pass 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