The Movement

Chapter Seven - Part 11

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The elevated, multistory complex in the far distance rose higher and higher into the sky with every step that Troy made. A large chrome shield glistened white as the sunlight ricocheted into Troy’s pupils, escaping past his defending arms and hands. Upon a much closer look, Troy could read the shield’s message in between the lapsing, interrupting reflections. Four words encompassed each section of the shield:

LOYALTY. EDUCATION. RESPONSIBILITY. PRODUCTION.

The message disappeared from his vision as he walked through the rotating doors underneath the large shield occupied above. Children aged eight, nine, maybe ten years scurried through the large open common area. The largest wall illuminated with a magnificent clock, ticking down. It read “1:08” then “1:07” then “1:06.”

The children repeatedly glanced at the clock as they scrambled through the commons. Only a limited number of children offered a greeting to passersby before the large clock reclaimed their eyes’ attention. A few of the straggling children hastily offered a peek at Troy standing just inside the rotating doors. Soon enough, the clock ticked down, “0:02” “0:01” “0:00.”

There was no bell, no ring. The common area was now abandoned. The illuminated clock on the wall reset to “1:30:00,” ticking downwards once again.

Troy stood, observing the obsidian marble walls and high ceiling. The walls were dark, yet glowed in black luminescence. The illuminated clock continued to tick undisturbed. Troy decided to begin his self-guided tour of The School of Learners. He peered to his left, which revealed a long, annular hallway, slightly bending out of view, but made of the same obsidian marble as the commons. To his right, a nearly identical appearance. Each hallway seemed to continue on forever until it finally bent out of vision.

He chose the hallway to his left first. As he passed by the first classroom, he stopped to observe the lasers in the doorway. Green lasers, extending from underneath the arch of the doorway and to the floor beneath it, seemed to exclude Troy from the classroom. A male professor, appearing youthful despite his obvious age advantage, walked around The Learners, who worked in pairs together, dissecting something in front of them.

Troy reached his hand out and slowly moved his finger to penetrate the green laser. Before contact was made, he felt the intense heat emanating from the thin lasers, then backed off. He could not hear The Learners discussing with one another. He could not hear the professor, who stopped his pace around the classroom, instructing a pair of Learners as they focused in on him. It appeared The Learners were working on small computer chips.

Not able to hear the classroom dialogue or enter without an interruption, Troy moved on down the hallway. The next classroom doorway, unlike the previous, was not barred off by green lasers, or any sort of barricade standing in its way. Troy peaked his head inside. A fairly young female professor, talking rather quickly, was making an announcement to the Learners. Each Learner had a small green plant in front of them, tiny buds growing out of the main stem, culminating into a much larger bud, perhaps blossoming into a flower one day.

Troy slipped inside without the Learners noticing. The professor offered him a nod of acknowledgement, but otherwise continued on with her lesson.

“Again, Learners,” she announced, “make sure you do not puncture the large bud on the fenugreek. That is the part we are dissecting, but you cannot puncture it. Now, very very carefully, take your tweezers and lift up from under the central bud.”

She paused, allowing the Learners to do as she instructed. A few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ echoed throughout the classroom.

“Do you see that thin purple tendon connecting the bud to the stem?” she probed the class.