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01 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Science Fiction Books

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Speaker 1: Anthem by Anne Ran, chapter one. It is a sin
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Speaker 1: to write this. It is a sin to think words
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Speaker 1: no others think, and to put them down on a
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Speaker 1: paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.
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Speaker 1: It is as if we are speaking alone to no
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Speaker 1: ears but our own. And we know well that there
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Speaker 1: is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone.
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Speaker 1: We have broken the laws. The laws say that men
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Speaker 1: may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them.
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Speaker 1: So may we be forgiven. But this is not the
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Speaker 1: only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime.
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Speaker 1: And for this crime there is no name. What punishment
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Speaker 1: awaits us if it be discovered, we know not, for
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Speaker 1: no such crime has come in the memory of men,
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Speaker 1: and there are no laws to provide for it. It is
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Speaker 1: dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in
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Speaker 1: the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand
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Speaker 1: on the paper. We are alone here under the earth.
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Speaker 1: It is a fearful word alone. The laws say that
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Speaker 1: none among men may be alone, ever and at any time,
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Speaker 1: for this is the great transgression and the root of
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Speaker 1: all evil. But we have broken many laws, and now
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Speaker 1: there is nothing here save our one body and it
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Speaker 1: is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground,
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Speaker 1: and on the wall before us the shadow of our
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Speaker 1: one head. The walls are cracked, and water runs upon
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Speaker 1: them in thin threads, without sound, black and glistening as blood.
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Speaker 1: We stole the candle from the larder of the home
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Speaker 1: of the street sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten
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Speaker 1: years in the palace of corrective detention if it be discovered.
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Speaker 1: But this matters not. It matters only that the light
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Speaker 1: is precious, and we should not waste it to write
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Speaker 1: when we need it for that work, which is our crime.
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Speaker 1: Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our
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Speaker 1: precious work. Still we must also write, for may the
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Speaker 1: council have mercy upon us. We wish to speak for
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Speaker 1: once to no ears, but our own. Our name is
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Speaker 1: equality seven two five two one, as it is written
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Speaker 1: on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their
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Speaker 1: left wrist, with their names upon it. We are twenty
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Speaker 1: one years old. We are six feet tall, and this
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Speaker 1: is a burden, for there are not many men who
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Speaker 1: are six feet tall. Ever, have the teachers and leaders
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Speaker 1: pointed to us and frowned and said, there is evil
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Speaker 1: in your bones? Equality seven two five two one. For
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Speaker 1: your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers.
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Speaker 1: But we cannot change our bones nor our body. We
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Speaker 1: were born with a curse has always driven us to
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Speaker 1: thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes
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Speaker 1: which men may not wish. We know that we are evil,
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Speaker 1: but there is no will in us and no power
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Speaker 1: to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear,
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Speaker 1: that we know and do not resist. We strive to
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Speaker 1: be like all of our brother men, for all men
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Speaker 1: must be alike. Over the portals of the Palace of
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Speaker 1: the World Council, there are words cut in marble which
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Speaker 1: we are required to repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted.
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Speaker 1: We are one and all, and all in one. There
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Speaker 1: are no men but only the Great We one, indivisible
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Speaker 1: and forever. We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps
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Speaker 1: us not. These words were cut long ago. There is
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Speaker 1: a green mold in the grooves of the letters, and
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Speaker 1: yellow streaks on the marbles, which come from more years
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Speaker 1: than men could count. And these words are truth, for
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Speaker 1: they are written on the Palace of the World Council,
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Speaker 1: and the World Council is the body of all truth.
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Speaker 1: Thus has it been ever since the Great Rebirth, and
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Speaker 1: farther back than that no memory can reach. But we
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Speaker 1: must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth,
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Speaker 1: else we are sentenced to three years in the palace
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Speaker 1: of corrective attention. It's only the old ones who whisper
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Speaker 1: about it. In the evenings, in the home of the useless,
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Speaker 1: they whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose
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Speaker 1: to the sky in those unmentionable times, and of the
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Speaker 1: wagons which moved without horses, and of the lights which
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Speaker 1: burned without flame. But those times were evil, and those
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Speaker 1: times passed away when men saw the great truth, which
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Speaker 1: is this, that all men are won, and that there
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Speaker 1: is no will save the will of all men. Together,
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Speaker 1: all men are good and wise. It is only we
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Speaker 1: equality seven two five two one, we alone who were
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Speaker 1: born with a curse, for we are not like our brothers.
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Speaker 1: And as we look back upon our life, we see
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Speaker 1: that it has ever been thus, and that it has
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Speaker 1: brought us, step by step to our last supreme transgression,
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Speaker 1: our crime of crimes. Hidden here under the ground, we
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Speaker 1: remember the home of the infants, where we lived till
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Speaker 1: we were five years old, together with all the children
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Speaker 1: of the city who had been born in the same year.
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Speaker 1: The sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare
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Speaker 1: of all things save one hundred beds. We were just
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Speaker 1: like all our brothers. Then, save for one transgression, we
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Speaker 1: fought with our bathers. There were few offenses blacker than
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Speaker 1: to fight with our brothers at any age and for
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Speaker 1: any cause whatsoever. The counsel of the home told us so,
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Speaker 1: And of all the children of that year, we were
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Speaker 1: locked in the cellar most often. When we were five
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Speaker 1: years old, we were sent to the home of the students,
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Speaker 1: where they were ten wards for our ten years of learning.
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Speaker 1: Men must learn till they reached their fifteenth year. Then
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Speaker 1: they go to work in the home of the students.
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Speaker 1: We arose when the big bell rang in the tower,
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Speaker 1: and we went to our beds. When it rang again,
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Speaker 1: before we removed our garments, we stood in the great
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Speaker 1: sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we
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Speaker 1: sat all together with the three teachers at the head.
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Speaker 1: We are nothing mankind is all by the grace of
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Speaker 1: our brothers, or we allowed our lives. We exist through
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Speaker 1: by and for our brothers, who are the state Amen.
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Speaker 1: Then we slept the sleeping halls were white and clean
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Speaker 1: and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We
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Speaker 1: Equality seven two five two one were not happy in
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Speaker 1: those years in the home of the students. It was
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Speaker 1: not that the learning was too hard for us. It
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Speaker 1: was that the learning was too easy. This is a
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Speaker 1: great sin to be born with a head which is
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Speaker 1: too quick. It is not good to be different from
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Speaker 1: our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them.
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Speaker 1: The teachers told us so, and they frowned when they
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Speaker 1: looked upon us. So we fought against this curse. We
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Speaker 1: tried to forget our lessons, but we always remembered. We
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Speaker 1: tried not to understand what the teachers taught, but we
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Speaker 1: always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked
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Speaker 1: upon Union five three nine nine two, who were a
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Speaker 1: pale boy with only half a brain, and we tried
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Speaker 1: to say and do as they did, that we might
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Speaker 1: be like them, like Union five three nine nine two.
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Speaker 1: But somehow the teachers knew that we were not, and
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Speaker 1: we were lashed more often than all the other children.
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Speaker 1: The teachers were just for they had been appointed by
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Speaker 1: the councils, and the counsels are the voice of all justice,
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Speaker 1: for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes,
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Speaker 1: in the secret darkness of our heart we regret that
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Speaker 1: which befell us on our fifteenth birthday, we knew that
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Speaker 1: it was through our own guilt we had broken a law,
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Speaker 1: for we had not paid heed to the words of
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Speaker 1: our teachers. The teachers had said to us, all, dare
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Speaker 1: not choose in your mind the work you would like
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Speaker 1: to do. When you leave the home of the students,
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Speaker 1: you shall do what the Council of Vocations shall prescribe
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Speaker 1: for you. The Council of Vocation knows in its great
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Speaker 1: wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better
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Speaker 1: than you can know it in your unworthy little minds.
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Speaker 1: And if you are not needed by your brother men,
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Speaker 1: there is no reason for you to burden the earth
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Speaker 1: with your bodies. We knew this well in the years
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Speaker 1: of our childhood. But our curse broke our will. We
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Speaker 1: were guilty, and we confessed it here. We were guilty
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Speaker 1: of the great transgression of preference. We preferred some work
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Speaker 1: and some lessons to others. We did not listen well
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Speaker 1: to the history of the councils elected since the Great Rebirth,
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Speaker 1: but we loved the science of things we wish to know.
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Speaker 1: We wish to know about all the things which make
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Speaker 1: the earth around us. We ask so many questions that
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Speaker 1: the teachers forbade it. We think that there are mysteries
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Speaker 1: in the sky and under the water, and in the
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Speaker 1: plant which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said
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Speaker 1: that there are no mysteries. And the Council of Scholars
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Speaker 1: knows all things. And we learned much from our teachers.
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Speaker 1: We learned that the earth is flat, and that the
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Speaker 1: sun revolves around it, which causes the day and night.
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Speaker 1: We learned the names of all the winds which blow
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Speaker 1: over the seas and push the sails of our great ships.
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Speaker 1: We learned how to bleed men, to cure them of
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Speaker 1: all ailments. We loved the science of things. And in
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Speaker 1: the darkness, in the secret hour, when we awoke in
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Speaker 1: the night, and there were no brothers around us, but
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Speaker 1: only their shapes in the beds and their snores, we
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Speaker 1: closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and
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Speaker 1: we stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our
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Speaker 1: brothers see or hear or guess. And we thought that
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Speaker 1: we wished to be sent to the home of the
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Speaker 1: scholars when our time would come. All of the great
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Speaker 1: modern inventions come from the home of scholars, such as
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Speaker 1: the newest one, which was found only one hundred years ago,
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Speaker 1: of how to make candles from wax and string, also
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Speaker 1: how to make glass, which is put in our windows
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Speaker 1: to protect us from the rain. To find these things,
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Speaker 1: the scholars must study the earth and learn from the rivers,
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Speaker 1: from the sands, from the winds and the rocks. And
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Speaker 1: if we went to the home of scholars, we could
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Speaker 1: learn from these. Also we could ask questions of these,
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Speaker 1: for they do not forbid questions, and questions give us
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Speaker 1: no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek.
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Speaker 1: We know not whatever and ever, but we cannot resist it.
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Speaker 1: It whispers to us that there are great things on
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Speaker 1: this earth of ours, that we must know them. We
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Speaker 1: ask why must we know? But it has no answer
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Speaker 1: to give us. We must know that we may know.
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Speaker 1: So we wished to be sent to the home of scholars.
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Speaker 1: We wished it so much that our hands trembled under
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Speaker 1: the blankets in the night, and we bit our arm
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Speaker 1: to stop that other pain which we could not endure.
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Speaker 1: It was evil, and we dared not face our brothers
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Speaker 1: in the morning, for men may wish nothing for themselves,
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Speaker 1: and we were punished when the Council of Vocations came
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Speaker 1: to give us our life mandates, which tell those who
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Speaker 1: reached their fifteenth year what their work is to be
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Speaker 1: for the rest of their days. The Council of Vocations
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Speaker 1: came in on the first day of spring, and they
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Speaker 1: sat in the Great Hall, and we who were fifteen,
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Speaker 1: and all the teachers came into the Great Hall, and
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Speaker 1: the Council of Vocations sat on a high dais, and
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Speaker 1: they had but two words to speak to each of
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Speaker 1: the students. They called the students' names, and when the
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Speaker 1: students stepped before them, one after another, the council said
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Speaker 1: carpenter or doctor, or cook or leader. Then each student
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Speaker 1: raised their right arm and said, the will of our
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Speaker 1: brothers be done. Now. If the council said carpenter or cook,
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Speaker 1: the students so assigned go to work and do not
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Speaker 1: study any further. But if the council has said Leader,
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Speaker 1: then those students go to the home of the Leaders,
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Speaker 1: which is the greatest house in the city, for it
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Speaker 1: has three stories, and there they study for many years,
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Speaker 1: so that they may become candidates and be elected to
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Speaker 1: the City Council, and the State Council and the World
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Speaker 1: Council by a free and general vote of all men.
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Speaker 1: But we wish not to be a leader, even though
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Speaker 1: it is a great honor. We wish to be a scholar.
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Speaker 1: So we awaited our turn in the Great Hall, and
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Speaker 1: then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name
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Speaker 1: equality seven two five two One walked to the dais,
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Speaker 1: and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up
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Speaker 1: at the council. There were five members of the council,
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Speaker 1: three of the male gender and two of the female.
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Speaker 1: Their hair was white, and their faces were cracked as
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Speaker 1: the clay of a dry river bed. They were old.
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Speaker 1: They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of
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Speaker 1: the World Council. They sat before us, and they did
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Speaker 1: not move, and we saw no breath to stir the
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Speaker 1: folds of their white togas. But we knew that they
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Speaker 1: were alive, for a finger of the hand of the
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Speaker 1: oldest rose pointed to us and fell down again. This
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Speaker 1: was the only thing which moved, for the lips of
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Speaker 1: the oldest did not move. As they said, street sweeper,
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Speaker 1: We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as
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Speaker 1: our head rose higher to look upon the faces of
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Speaker 1: the council, and we were happy. We knew we had
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Speaker 1: been guilty, but now we had a way to atone
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Speaker 1: for it. We would accept our life mandate, and we
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Speaker 1: would work for our brothers gladly and willingly, and we
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Speaker 1: would erase our sin against them, which they did not know,
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Speaker 1: but we knew, for we were happy and proud of
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Speaker 1: ourselves and of the victory over ourselves. We raised our
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Speaker 1: right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the clearest,
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Speaker 1: the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said,
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Speaker 1: the will of our brothers be done. And we looked
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Speaker 1: straight into the eyes of the council, But their eyes
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Speaker 1: were as cold as blue glass buttons. So we went
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Speaker 1: into the home of the street sweepers. It is a
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Speaker 1: gray house on a narrow street. There is a sun
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Speaker 1: dial in the courtyard by which the council of the
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Speaker 1: home can tell the hours of the day and when
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Speaker 1: to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we arise
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Speaker 1: from our beds. The sky is green and cold in
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Speaker 1: our windows to the east, and the shadow on the
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Speaker 1: sun dial marks off a half hour. While we dress
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Speaker 1: and eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there
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Speaker 1: are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty
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Speaker 1: clay cups on each table. Then we go to work
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Speaker 1: in the streets of the city with our brooms and
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Speaker 1: our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high,
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Speaker 1: we return to the home and we eat our midday meal,
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Speaker 1: for which one half hour is allowed. Then we go
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Speaker 1: to work again. In five hours, the shadows are blue
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Speaker 1: on the pavements, and the sky is blue with a
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Speaker 1: deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to
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Speaker 1: have our dinner, which last one hour. Then the bell
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Speaker 1: rings and we walk in a straight column to one
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Speaker 1: of the city halls for the social meeting. Other columns
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Speaker 1: of men arrive from the homes of the different trades.
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Speaker 1: The candles are lit, and the councils of the different
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Speaker 1: homes stand in a pulpit, and they speak to us
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Speaker 1: of our duties and our brother men. Then visiting leaders
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Speaker 1: mount the pulpit and they read to us the speeches
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Speaker 1: which were made in the city council that day. For
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Speaker 1: the city council represents all men, and all men must know.
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Speaker 1: Then we sing hymns, the Hymn of Brotherhood, the Hymn
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Speaker 1: of Equality, and the hymn of the collective spirit. The
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Speaker 1: sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home.
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Speaker 1: Then the bell rings, and we walk in a straight
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Speaker 1: column to the city theater for three hours of social recreation.
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Speaker 1: Their a play is shown upon the stage, with two
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Speaker 1: great choruses from the home of the actors, which speak
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Speaker 1: and answer all together in two great voices. The plays
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Speaker 1: are about toil, and how good it is. Then we
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Speaker 1: walk back to the home in a straight column. The
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Speaker 1: sky is like a black sieve, pierced by silver drops
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Speaker 1: that tremble, ready to burst through. The moths beat against
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Speaker 1: the street lanterns. We go to our beds, and we
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Speaker 1: sleep till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls are
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Speaker 1: white and clean and bare of all things save one
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Speaker 1: hundred beds. Thus we have lived each day of four
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Speaker 1: years until two springs ago, when our crime happened. Thus
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Speaker 1: must all men live until they are forty. At forty
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Speaker 1: they're worn out. At forty they are sent to the
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Speaker 1: home of the useless, where the old ones live. The
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Speaker 1: old ones do not work, for the state takes care
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Speaker 1: of them. They sit in the sun and summer, and
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Speaker 1: they sit by the fire in winter. They do not
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Speaker 1: speak often, for they are weary. The old ones know
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Speaker 1: that they are soon to die. When a miracle happens
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Speaker 1: and some one lives to be forty five, they are
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Speaker 1: the ancient ones, and children stare at them when passing
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Speaker 1: by the home of the useless. Such is to be
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Speaker 1: our life, as that of all our brothers, and of
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Speaker 1: the brothers who came before us. Such would have been
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Speaker 1: our life had we not committed our crime, which has
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Speaker 1: changed all things for us. And it was our curse
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Speaker 1: which drove us to our crime. We had been a
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Speaker 1: good street sweeper, and like all our brothers, street sweepers,
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Speaker 1: save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too
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Speaker 1: long at the stars at night, and at the trees
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Speaker 1: and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of
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Speaker 1: the home of the scholars, we gathered the glass vials,
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Speaker 1: the pieces of metal, the dried bones which they had discarded.
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Speaker 1: We wished to keep these things and to study them,
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Speaker 1: but we had no place to hide them. So we
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Speaker 1: carried them to the city cesspool, and then we made
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Speaker 1: the discovery. It was on a day of the spring
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Speaker 1: before last. We street sweepers worked in brigades of three,
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Speaker 1: and we were with Union five three nine nine two.
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Speaker 1: They of the half brain and with internet National for
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Speaker 1: eight eight one eight now Union five three nine ninety
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Speaker 1: two were a sickly lad, and sometimes they were stricken
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Speaker 1: with convulsions, when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white.
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Speaker 1: But International four eight eight one eight are different. They
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Speaker 1: are tall, strong youth, and in their eyes are like fireflies,
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Speaker 1: for there is laughter in their eyes. We cannot look
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Speaker 1: upon International four eight eight one eight and not smile
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Speaker 1: and answer for this. They were not liked in the
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Speaker 1: home of the students, as it were not proper to
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Speaker 1: smile without reason. And also they were not liked because
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Speaker 1: they took pieces of coal, and they drew pictures upon
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Speaker 1: the walls, and they were pictures which made men laugh.
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Speaker 1: But it is only our brothers in the home of
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Speaker 1: the artists, which are permitted to draw pictures. So International
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Speaker 1: four eight eight one eight were sent to the home
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Speaker 1: of the street sweepers like ourselves International four eight eight
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Speaker 1: one eight, and we are friends. This is an evil
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Speaker 1: thing to say, for it is a great transgression, the
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Speaker 1: great transgression of preference, to love any among men better
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Speaker 1: than the others. Since we must love all men, and
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Speaker 1: all men are of our friends, so International four eight
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Speaker 1: eight one eight. And we have never spoken of it,
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Speaker 1: but we know, we know when we look into each
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Speaker 1: other's eyes, and when we look thus without words, we
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Speaker 1: both know other things, also, strange things for which there
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Speaker 1: are no words. And these things frighten us. So on
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Speaker 1: that day of the spring before last Union five three
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Speaker 1: nine ninety two were stricken with convulsions on the edge
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Speaker 1: to the city, near the city theater. We left them
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Speaker 1: to lie in the shade of the theater tent, and
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Speaker 1: we went with International four eight eight one eight to
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Speaker 1: finish our work. We came together to the great ravine
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Speaker 1: behind the theater. It is empty save for trees and weeds.
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Speaker 1: Behind the ravine there is a plane, and behind the
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Speaker 1: plane there lies the uncharted forest, about which men must
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Speaker 1: not think. We were gathering the papers and the rags
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Speaker 1: which the wind had blown from the theater when we
22:34
Speaker 1: saw an iron bar among the weeds. It was old
22:38
Speaker 1: and rusted by many rains. We pulled with all our strength,
22:42
Speaker 1: but we could not move it. So we called International
22:45
Speaker 1: four eight eight one eight, and together we scraped the
22:49
Speaker 1: earth around the bar. Of a sudden, the earth fell
22:53
Speaker 1: in before us, and we saw an old iron grill
22:57
Speaker 1: over a black hole in National four eight eight one eight.
23:01
Speaker 1: Step back, But we pulled at the grill and it
23:04
Speaker 1: gave way, and then we saw iron rings as steps
23:08
Speaker 1: leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. We
23:12
Speaker 1: shall go down, we said to International four eight eight
23:16
Speaker 1: one eight. It is forbidden. They answered, We said, the
23:21
Speaker 1: Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot
23:24
Speaker 1: be forbidden. And they answered, since the Council does not
23:29
Speaker 1: know of this hole, there could be no law permitting
23:31
Speaker 1: to enter it, and everything which is not permitted by
23:34
Speaker 1: law is forbidden. But we said we shall go. Nonetheless,
23:41
Speaker 1: they were frightened, but they stood by and watched us go.
23:45
Speaker 1: We hung on the iron rings with our hands and
23:47
Speaker 1: our feet. We could see nothing below us, and above us.
23:51
Speaker 1: The hole open upon the sky grew smaller and smaller,
23:56
Speaker 1: till it came to be the size of a button.
23:59
Speaker 1: But still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground.
24:03
Speaker 1: We rubbed our eyes, for we could not see. Then
24:06
Speaker 1: our eyes became used to the darkness, and we could
24:09
Speaker 1: not believe what we saw. No man known to us
24:14
Speaker 1: could have built this place, nor the men known to
24:16
Speaker 1: our brothers who lived before us, and yet it was
24:20
Speaker 1: built by men. It was a great tunnel. Its walls
24:24
Speaker 1: were hard and smooth to the touch. It felt like stone,
24:28
Speaker 1: but it wasn't stone. On the ground there were long,
24:31
Speaker 1: thin tracts of iron, but it was not iron. It
24:35
Speaker 1: felt smooth and cold as glass. We knelt and we
24:38
Speaker 1: crawled forward, our hand groping along the iron line to
24:42
Speaker 1: see where it would lead. But there was an unbroken
24:45
Speaker 1: night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed through it, straight
24:50
Speaker 1: and white, calling us to follow. But we could not follow,
24:54
Speaker 1: for we were losing the puddle of light behind us.
24:57
Speaker 1: So we turned and we crawled back, our hand on
25:00
Speaker 1: the iron line, and our heart beat in our fingertips
25:04
Speaker 1: without reason. And then we knew, We knew suddenly that
25:09
Speaker 1: this place was left from the unmentionable times. So it
25:12
Speaker 1: was true, and those times had been, and all the
25:16
Speaker 1: wonders of those times, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago.
25:20
Speaker 1: Men knew secrets which we have lost. And we thought
25:26
Speaker 1: this is a foul place. They are damned to touch
25:29
Speaker 1: the things of the dimensionable times. But our hand, which
25:32
Speaker 1: followed the track as we crawled, clung to the iron
25:36
Speaker 1: as if it would not leave it, as if the
25:38
Speaker 1: skin of our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal,
25:41
Speaker 1: some secret fluid beating in its coldness. We returned to
25:46
Speaker 1: the earth. International four eight eight one eight looked upon
25:49
Speaker 1: us and stepped back. Equality seven two five two one.
25:54
Speaker 1: They said, your face is white. But we could not speak,
25:59
Speaker 1: and we stood looking upon them. They backed away as
26:06
Speaker 1: if they dared not touch us. Then they smiled, but
26:10
Speaker 1: it was not a gay smile. It was lost and pleading.
26:14
Speaker 1: But still we could not speak. Then they said, we
26:18
Speaker 1: shall report our find to the city council, and both
26:21
Speaker 1: of us will be rewarded. And then we spoke. Our
26:25
Speaker 1: voice was hard, and there was no mercy in our voice.
26:29
Speaker 1: We said, we shall not report our find to the
26:33
Speaker 1: city council. We shall not report it to any men.
26:37
Speaker 1: They raised their hands to their ears, for never had
26:40
Speaker 1: they heard such words as these. International four eight eight
26:46
Speaker 1: one eight. We asked, will you report us to the
26:49
Speaker 1: council and see us lashed to death before your eyes?
26:53
Speaker 1: They stood straight of a sudden, and they answered, rather
26:58
Speaker 1: would we die? Then we said, keep silent. This place
27:02
Speaker 1: is ours. This place belongs to us Equality seven two
27:07
Speaker 1: five two one, and to no other men on earth.
27:10
Speaker 1: And if we ever surrender it, we shall surrender our
27:14
Speaker 1: life with it. Also then we saw that the eyes
27:17
Speaker 1: of International four eight eight one eight were fold to
27:20
Speaker 1: the lids with tears that dared not drop. They whispered,
27:25
Speaker 1: and their voice trembled, so that their words lost all shape.
27:30
Speaker 1: The will of the Council is above all things, for
27:32
Speaker 1: it is the will of our brothers, which is holy.
27:35
Speaker 1: But if you wish it so, we shall obey you.
27:38
Speaker 1: Rather shall we be evil with you than good with
27:42
Speaker 1: all our brothers. May the Council have mercy upon both
27:46
Speaker 1: our hearts. Then we walked away together and back to
27:50
Speaker 1: the home of the street sweepers, and we walked in silence.
27:54
Speaker 1: Thus did it come to pass that each night, when
27:57
Speaker 1: the stars are high and the streets sweepers sit in
28:01
Speaker 1: the city theater, we Equality seven two five two one
28:05
Speaker 1: steal out and run through the darkness to our place.
28:09
Speaker 1: It is easy to leave the theater. When the candles
28:12
Speaker 1: are blown and the actors come on to the stage.
28:15
Speaker 1: No eyes can see us as we crawl under our
28:18
Speaker 1: seat and under the cloth of the tent. Later, it
28:22
Speaker 1: is easy to steal through the shadows and fall in
28:25
Speaker 1: nine next to International four eight eight one eight. As
28:29
Speaker 1: the column leaves the theater, it is dark in the streets,
28:33
Speaker 1: and there are no men about, for no men may
28:36
Speaker 1: walk through the city when they have no mission to
28:39
Speaker 1: walk there. Each night we run to the ravine and
28:43
Speaker 1: we remove the stones we have piled upon the iron
28:46
Speaker 1: grill to hide it from men. Each night, for three
28:49
Speaker 1: hours we are under the earth alone. We have stolen
28:54
Speaker 1: candles from the home of the street sweepers. We have
28:57
Speaker 1: stolen flints and knives and paper, and we have brought
29:00
Speaker 1: them to this place. We have stolen glass vials and
29:04
Speaker 1: powders and acids from the home of the scholars. Now
29:07
Speaker 1: we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night,
29:10
Speaker 1: and we study. We melt strange metals, and we mix acids,
29:16
Speaker 1: and we cut open the bodies of the animals which
29:19
Speaker 1: we find in the city cesspool. We have built an
29:22
Speaker 1: oven of the bricks we gathered in the streets. We
29:26
Speaker 1: burn the wood we find in the ravine. The fire
29:29
Speaker 1: flickers in the oven, and the blue shadows dance upon
29:32
Speaker 1: the walls, and there is no sound of men to
29:36
Speaker 1: disturb us. We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense.
29:42
Speaker 1: Manuscripts are precious, for our brothers in the home of
29:45
Speaker 1: the clerks spend one year to copy one single script
29:50
Speaker 1: in their clear handwriting. Manuscripts are rare, and they are
29:55
Speaker 1: kept in the home of the scholars. So we sit
29:57
Speaker 1: under the earth and we read the stolen scripts. Two
30:01
Speaker 1: years have passed since we found this place, and in
30:04
Speaker 1: these two years we have learned more than we had
30:07
Speaker 1: learned in the ten years at the home of the students.
30:10
Speaker 1: We have learned things which are not in the scripts.
30:14
Speaker 1: We have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge.
30:18
Speaker 1: We have come to see how great is the unexplored,
30:23
Speaker 1: and how many lifetimes will not bring us to the
30:26
Speaker 1: end of our quest. We wish nothing save to be
30:30
Speaker 1: alone and to learn, and to feel as if with
30:33
Speaker 1: each day our sight were growing sharper than the hawks
30:37
Speaker 1: and clearer than the rock crystal. Strange are the ways
30:41
Speaker 1: of evil. We are false in the faces of our brothers.
30:45
Speaker 1: We are defying the will of our councils. We alone,
30:48
Speaker 1: of the thousands who walk the earth, We alone, in
30:50
Speaker 1: this hour, are doing a work which has no purpose
30:55
Speaker 1: save that we wish to do it. The evil of
30:58
Speaker 1: our crime is not for the human mind to probe.
31:01
Speaker 1: The nature of our punishment, if it be discovered, is
31:05
Speaker 1: not free for the human heart to ponder. Never not
31:09
Speaker 1: in the memory of the ancient ones. Ancients, never have
31:13
Speaker 1: men done what we are doing. And yet there is
31:18
Speaker 1: no shame in us and no regret. We say to
31:22
Speaker 1: ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor, but
31:25
Speaker 1: we feel no burden upon our spirit, and no fear
31:28
Speaker 1: in our heart. And it seems to us that our
31:31
Speaker 1: spirit is clear as a lake, troubled by no eyes
31:37
Speaker 1: save those of the sun. And in our heart strange
31:41
Speaker 1: are the ways of evil. In our heart there is
31:44
Speaker 1: the first peace we have known in twenty years. End
31:52
Speaker 1: of Chapter one.