The next day Luz and Vintage decided to have some alone time. She was extremely relieved that her performance was over and wanted to enjoy the afterglow of what in her mind amounted to survival. They were walking the promenade on the coast when Luz had an idea.
“Have you ever seen an aquaponics farm?” she asked. Vintage shook his head and said, “I don’t even know what aquaponics is. It sounds cool, though. What is it?” Stunned, Luz chided him playfully, “You’ve never heard of aquaponics? Wow, you’re like a caveman or something.” Vintage decided to play along and started beating his chest and grunting.
“Aquaponics is an agriculture method, but in bodies of water, like the ocean or a lake. And we’re close to the largest aquaponics farm in the world right now. We should check it out,” she recommended as she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and imagine that in order to see this floating farm, we’d go on the water somehow, probably by boat.” “You are a genius! One of the reasons I love you!” she wailed with a laugh. He looked bashful and this caught her attention. “What’s the deal?” she asked. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but I guess you’ll find out eventually, so I might as well tell you,” he said in a quiet tone as if anyone around could hear or would care for that matter. “Does anyone else know?” she asked excitedly. “Nope, you’ll be the first,” he admitted.
“Ooooooo, a secret! Tell me, tell me, tell me!” “Ok, here it goes,” he said as he turned red as a lobster, “I can’t swim.” “What!” she exclaimed as her fine facial features exploded with surprise. “Why not?” she asked. “Never learned how.” “Well, I can teach...” she said before he cut her off. “Not today, sweetheart, not today.”
“Ok, ok, that’s fine, but we can still tour the farm. The boat is safe! We can even get one with a security force field on in to keep you from falling in.” “Really? That would be perfect!” “Yeah, it’s the one they use for small children,” she tortured him softly. “Very funny.” “So we’re going?” she shouted happily. “Yep, lead the way.”
They walked a ways down the picturesque coast until they came to their destination. There was a small kiosk on the edge of the promenade where they sold tour tickets. A pleasant old gentleman greeted them and explained the options, “You can take the basic tour where you only get to look. If you want the plus tour, then you can take as much produce as you can carry by hand, and that includes fish. All the boats are equipped with fishing equipment so you have to catch the fish yourself. We’ll also transport your goods up to ten miles if you need it.”
“We’ll take the plus, please!” Luz said. “Very well,” the old man said. He reached to a shelf under him and pulled out two little electronic tabs about a centimeter square each. “You each need to wear one of these. It’ll allow your arms to move past the force fields that protect the crops. You can take any boat that you like,” he said as he motioned towards a large fleet of water cruisers. “Just please use common sense and don’t take the biggest boat. We might have some larger parties later. Other than that, you’re all set. The computer on board will have all the info you need for the tour.” As they were about to scamper off to the water, Luz stopped herself and suddenly remembered about needing the child safety on the boat. “Oh, just one more thing,” she said. Vintage stopped her and said, “No, that’s ok, we’re good.” She looked at him skeptically, “Are you sure?” “Yep, let’s go,” he assured with an embarrassed look. As they walked off she whispered, “You didn’t want him to know. Are you that embarrassed?” He sighed and answered with a grimace, “I’ll take a risk, why not? Besides, if I fall in, you can save me, right?” Her face wrinkled with doubt, “Well, I’m not that great of a swimmer, but maybe I could.”
They picked out a sleek little four seater and Luz jumped in first. A reluctant Vintage cautiously stepped into the machine he was entrusting his life to. “You’ve got nothing to worry about,” she tried to comfort him. “Famous last words,” he said pessimistically. Luz scanned the on-board instructions and got everything going. It was simple, really, mostly everything was automatic. All they had to do was point on the digital map of the farm where they wanted to go and the computer handled the rest. Autonomous vehicles like this were popular for tourism excursions where the vehicle operator was in unfamiliar territory. They could also select the speed they wanted to go and stop the boat when they were ready to pick.
They started off into the blue-green oasis. “I can’t believe how far it stretches!” Vintage exclaimed as he peered as far as the eye could see. “No kidding,” Luz agreed. “It’s the largest one in the world. It supplies food for the whole city!” “How big is the city?” Vintage asked. “I think it’s around forty thousand or so. It’s nice to visit, but I’d never want to live in a place this crowded, that’s for sure!” Vintage laughed uncontrollably. “You think this is crowded? Forty thousand! Do you know how many people live in the city I’m from?”
“I have a feeling I don’t want to know.” “Over ten million!” “Oh my God! How can you breathe? And why would so many people want to live crammed on top of each other like that?” “Everyone lives in cities where I come from, at least anyone and everyone not involved in food production. It’s the law that you have to live in the city, for conservation purposes. The government says that resources are scarce and that it’s more efficient and better for the environment if everyone lives in cities. To live outside the city, you need a special permit from the government.”
“Wow, that’s terrible!” Luz yelled with a frown that accented her dimples. “Oh, we’re at a broccoli field, let’s stop!” Luz said emphatically as she hit the red button on the control panel. The boat crawled slower and came to a sleepy stop. She reached out and her hands penetrated the force field with a ‘zip’ noise and pulled out two jumbo heads of broccoli.
“So who produces food for all those people in the cities then?” she asked as she restarted the boat. About to comment on how naive a comment that was, Vintage reminded himself that he was living in the exact opposite form of society that he had been accustomed to for so many years. “Corporations produce all the food. Agronomists and other specialists are trained in the Department of Work Preparation, which is run by the government. Then, after becoming certified, if the specialist has any luck landing a job at a corporation, then the government gives that person a license.” “Wow, so you know nothing about growing any crops, gardening, or anything like that?” Luz asked. “Nope, of course not, because I’m a writer. Not many people do. It’s illegal to grow food without a license and it’s also illegal to grow in the city.” Luz frowned and grumbled, “That’s so, so sad.”
“Wow, is that corn coming up?” Vintage asked with surprising passion for such a simple thing. Luz scanned the horizon and said, “Yep, sure enough. Wow, those stalks are tall! They must be almost ten feet high! If you should happen to fall overboard, sweetheart, you can use one of those to pull yourself up!” “Still not funny,” he objected. She smiled and kissed him softly on the cheek. “I’ll let you have the honors of picking it,” she said. “From what you’ve told me about where you live, it sounds like absolute hell. How can people stand it?” Will laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s a great question, my love. There are some people who are genuinely unhappy about the state of affairs over there, but they are few and far between and usually keep their mouths shut out of fear. They are afraid of being turned in to the authorities. Other people are so drugged out of their minds that they’re numb to everything. They just go about from task to task, mindlessly performing their function in society. They’re depressed, so internally they know something is wrong, which is why the government happily gives them drugs to keep them sedated, yet functional. Then there is the vast majority of people, who have swallowed the indoctrination since they were born, from the media and the school system, all day, every day, pounding it into their skulls. They can’t imagine any other way.”
“You just hit the nail on the head,” she interrupted. “Pardon me?” he asked. “Imagination is one of the keys. From the way it sounds, the people that control the corporations and the government are scientifically destroying the imagination of everyone else that’s not at the top of the control structure. Without imagination to create new and better possibilities within the mind, then nothing can ever change for the better in the physical reality. It all starts in the mind. The mind is the cause of physical manifestations, which are only the effects. For example, before this boat was built, it was first conceived of in the mind. That’s why they keep the children in government run schools so much, only allowing parents to see their sons and daughters once a month, so that there is no chance the parents can influence their children in any other way of thinking. My God, you even told me that children aren’t allowed to ask questions in school! It’s sooooo diabolical!”
Vintage sighed and said, “Yeah, and I was no different. I believed in all of it. The money, the authority, the violence, man’s laws, schooling, on and on! Hell, I was part of it! I wrote propaganda pieces to help support the control structure!” He became visibly shaken. She put her arm around his shoulder and consoled him, “But you came out of it! And here you are! Look at you! Your mind is free and so are you!”
He focused straight ahead on the approaching floating corn field. He turned to her and asked, “Do you think there will ever be freedom where I come from?” Her eyes hardened with uncertainty. “It’s hard to say, to be honest. It’s always possible, but to say for certain that it is inevitable would be a mistake. I hope with all my heart that they find the truth.”
He looked sullen and thoughtful. “You’re thinking about going back one day, aren’t you? I can see it in your eyes,” she asked with a twinge of sadness. She stopped the boat and they parked in front of the corn field. “I had the dream again last night,” he said without looking at her. He couldn’t bear to look at her at the moment. “The woman and the child. You’ve been having that dream more frequently lately, haven’t you? Have you been getting the headaches, too?”
“Yes, the same woman and child. Like I know them from my past somehow, a feeling in my gut. I’ve been having the headaches, too, but luckily today I don’t have one. They don’t always accompany the dream.” “Who do you think they are?” He stared into the abyss below the boat and responded, “I don’t know who they are, I honestly have no idea, but I feel that someday I need to find out.” “So you have a personal reason to return to the other side one day, but is that it? Do you have other thoughts or feelings about returning?”
“Absolutely. I can’t just have this knowledge and not do something positive with it. That’s not right. I have an obligation to share this knowledge with those on the other side. I have to at least try, or else I’m no better than the controllers who occult the information in the first place, right?” She quivered and replied, “No, I can’t argue with you there. You will have to, one day.” He stared deeper and deeper into the abyss as his mind and heart ran wild.
“I have to try and spark their imaginations. Perhaps it will just be like one drop of water at first, but if I can reach even just one person, and that person another, until exponentially that one drop of water is multiplied millions of times over, given enough time, it will become a vast ocean and the tide will sweep away all the slavery and suffering and waves of freedom will rhythmically flow in that new ocean of consciousness.” He turned to her and she said with soft doe eyes, “You are a good writer.” He smiled at her beauty and they shared a passionate kiss.
If you'd like a paperback of the entire novel, you can do so @
http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/todd-borho/will/paperback/product-22859103.html
Cheers!