Low Voices

How long has it been since anyone saw a young boy in the nation? Eleven generations before me, there was a boy child in my family. The story passed down was that Aides took him and erased all who could recount what had happened. All but young Delie, who’s mother had hidden her in the loft. The story she kept alive was one with power to wipe out our entire family. I’m Genta and I live in Perseph. We are nation one because we are the center of all remaining nations and therefore the most vulnerable. When Jupiter expanded, the people were forced to move underground. There was a bunker in that time miles under frozen earth that held the plant species. The least among the people were allowed to take refuge there in hopes that survival would be their chance at good fortune. Laborers and tradesmen and women were necessary for our future. We are not taught where the wealthy were placed, but they were also saved as our world was destroyed by toxic gases. In the resurface, my family were among the ones who travelled south to the protected land. They were to regrow and replenish our plant life. As the story goes it was not long before alliances formed. People fought and died to be in the center. The center controlled the food, it controlled the springs, and in those early years these things were scarce. A feud eventually broke out and we were told that Perseph had to relinquish our men to remain the center without posing a threat. Now we are a nation of women dedicated to fair distribution of resources and gaining knowledge. We are the peacekeepers.

I work in the garden – but that’s vague since we live here. In my truest form, I am a sorter. I help find the right place for people to work. Some are good mixers, and some can sew. Others are trusty distributors that take loads of food to the rest of our small new world. When I’m not sorting new faces, I am taking a special delivery up to the most beautiful structure I’ve ever seen. No one has ever been inside and no one except for the sorter before me knows that the building exists. There is a hidden entry locked by age-old technology. I place my hand on the door and, like magic, it unlatches, and I’m standing on hidden land. The building is bigger than I’ve ever seen, and it makes me wonder if there are others like it somewhere. I am supposed to set the delivery at the door and walk away. I was told that this was a meeting place for the leaders of each nation. It is how peace is kept, and I must never disturb their peace meetings. When the last sorter trained me, they told me not to ask stupid questions. I wanted to know why old technology had not returned. I wanted to know what other old devices there were. Most of all, I wanted to know why it was a secret? In our schoolhouse we talked about the old time, but never technology like what I saw at the secret building. Anyway, that was my life, until I met someone who could answer more of my questions. Once while I was sorting, I saw a girl sneaking away from the group. When I tried to stop her, she took off. I tried to follow, but It was like she disappeared near the wall. I spent days during my free time looking for where she went. After searching diligently for a week or so, I decided to relax and have a picnic in my new spot. As I took a bite out of my apple, the girl dropped a hard slab of something onto my lap. I jumped at first, but it didn’t take long to figure that the girl had been watching me. I picked up the thing and it started to glow. I threw it and looked around frantically. If anyone had seen that I’d be a dead sorter. I already knew the burden of carrying a forbidden secret, and this was definitely old technology. The girl yelled at me which startled me even more, “Don’t throw my phone!” She rushed to it and looked it over, then her eyes cut back to me. “Are you stupid or something, I thought you were an upper!” What did she call me? I looked at her, completely bewildered. “Are… You… Stupid?” I must have been because slowing it down didn’t make a difference, I was dumbfounded. I mustered up a no and proceeded to ask what an upper was. She looked at me for a minute and said, “Meet me here tomorrow!” before running off.

The next day I showed up to my spot. I packed two lunches in case she was hungry. I had thought all night about what she said to me. If I wasn’t an upper, was I a lower? Was this old technology still in use in this girl’s nation? I waited for what seemed like forever. I finally rested on the ground before falling asleep. Moments later, I was startled awake by someone hoisting me up. I almost screamed but before I could cry for help, the girl had her hand over my mouth. “He’s helping me,” she whispered. ‘HE’ I thought. I was being carried by a male? I had never even seen a male outside of my school books. I could have fainted, but I was too intrigued by the whole situation. They scurried out to the furthest wall in our nation, and used a scanner like the one I use. The only difference was that this one led into a long hall. I started forward, but the man stopped me. I looked up at him, studying his face. He was large, but he didn’t seem threatening. I wondered why they would take our nation’s men. I knew the center needed to be protected, but this man didn’t look like the brutal creatures we read about. The girl reached into her shirt and pulled out this beautiful necklace. It was nicer than any of the jewelry I had ever seen, and it twinkled even in this dimly lit hallway. I stayed back as instructed and watched the girl walk out alone. I felt like it was the first time looking at her. At first glance she looked normal, but I began to notice how different we really were. Her long brown hair was not as messy as she had tried to make it. She was skinny, but not in the way that we were from constant work. She was a different kind of skinny. Even her clothes were made to look lowly, but the fabric was too nice to do us justice. This was an upper in disguise. The girl continued down to the doorway at the other end of the hall. She had been clenching the end of her necklace in a fist, but then she held it out. A sparkling heart with jewels as green as grass was suspended between her thumb and forefinger. She opened the locket and pressed it flat against the device on the wall. The wall opened to reveal a small screen. She began poking at the screen and I heard a noise before she motioned for us to come with her. I looked up at the man who simply pointed to the corner of the ceiling just beyond where we were standing. “They’re watching the hall,” he muttered before motioning me on. I walked, but my walk sooned turned to a jog, as these two mysterious new friends began to speed up. The girl opened the door, looked both ways and ran for it. The man grabbed my arm and did the same. Half running and half being pulled, they rushed me into the side door of a massive building. It was almost as big as the nations’ meeting place. The girl slammed the door closed behind us and fell to the floor laughing. The man was laughing too and he walked over to help her up. “I guess you do this a lot?” I wasn’t very keen on being dragged into a forbidden place and I was growing frustrated with their strange behavior. The girl apologized and finally introduced herself. Mae. I asked the man what his name was and what nation he was from. They both looked confused and this made me uncomfortable. Mae grabbed my hand and said, “What do they teach the lowers about us?” Now, I was the one confused. “Nothing,” I said half yelling. I gave Mae a brief history lesson on our bunker, being the center, and having to give up our men for the sake of the other nations. When I finished, she looked as if she wanted to cry. I asked her what was wrong, but the man stepped forward. I’m Nash and I am from here. This place is a hidden nation and it is the true center of nations. Mae and Nash took me up the stairs and told me to get cleaned up. I was so sick with fear of what was to come that I didn’t question them. Mae brung me clothes and fixed my hair and face. I didn’t recognize myself. My reddish brown hair was up in a way that I would never be able to do alone. My brown eyes looked huge and my eyelashes seemed to stick out for miles. My dress was gorgeous and Mae looked even more stunning. She was no longer in disguise. I was happy, but I still felt the burden of disappointment and betrayal. If we weren’t the center, then why did they take our men. Mae motioned for me to follow her downstairs. She led me to a small room which was locked with the same two-heart shape that Mae had pressed her locket into. She reached for the necklace and used it once again. The door opened to a stairwell.

She led me down and sat me in the chair at the bottom of the stairs. She began explaining to me that the uppers had gone into hiding elsewhere. They took all the engineers, scientists and inventors. They hid the technology and the wealthiest people took refuge among these things. She said that the Upper school taught that the Lowers were takers and that they would squander every good thing the Uppers had. Mae began to cry. I tried to comfort her, but she said she didn’t deserve it. She went on, “We didn’t just tell Perseph they were the center. All nations think they’re the center. They all have a sorter and a secret meeting place for the nations and none of them have men.” I held my head up, using gravity to keep my tears from falling. I had always questioned why things couldn’t have been done a different way. Why were we in charge of food? Why did we need walls if the threat of war was gone? I was most upset about the fact that I used to think my home was a symbol of peace. At that point I knew, I was from nowhere special. Mae explained that she had only found out when she started exploring. Her mother was never pleased with the way things were either so she gave Mae a way out. Mae spoke through her sniffles, “Mam always said that this was my key to power. My freedom of knowledge.” I let that sink in, when Mae flipped a switch and the wall lit up with screens. They all showed nations of women. Other than the people, we all looked exactly alike. Working towards a common goal and thinking ourselves important. I looked to Mae with tear filled eyes, “I’m going to fix this!” Her eyes asked me how, but her mom had already given me the answer. “Free knowledge…”