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07 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Chapter seven. It is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over
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  our head, black against the last gold of the sky. The moss is
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  soft and warm. We shall sleep on this moss for many nights till the
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  beasts of the forests come to tear our body. We have no bed now
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  save the moss, and no future save the beasts. We are old now,
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  yet we were young this morning. When we carried our glass box through
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  the streets of the city to the home of the scholars. No men stopped
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  us, for there were none about the palace of corrective Detention, and the
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  others knew nothing. No men stopped us at the gate. We walked through
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  the empty passages and into the great Hall, where the World Council of Scholars
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  sat in solemn meeting. We saw nothing as we entered, save the sky
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  in the great windows, blue and glowing. Then we saw the scholars,
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  who sat around a long time. They were as shapeless clouds, huddled at
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  the rise of a great sky. There were the men whose famous names we
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  knew, and others from distant lands whose names we had not heard. We
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  saw a great painting on the wall over their heads of the twenty illustrious men
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  who had invented the candle. All the heads of the Council turned to us
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  as we entered. These great and wise of the earth did not know what
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  to think of us, and they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity,
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  as if we were a miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn
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  and stained with brown stains which had been blood. We raised our right arm,
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  and we said our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World
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  Council of Scholars. Then collective zero zero zero zero nine, the oldest and
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  wisest of the council spoke and asked, who are you, our brother,
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  for you do not look like a scholar. Our name is Equality seven two
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  five two one, we answered, and we are a street sweeper of this
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  city. Then it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall,
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  for all the scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened.
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  A street sweeper, a street sweeper walking in upon the World Council of Scholars.
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  It is not to be believed. It is against all the rules and
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  all the laws. But we knew how to stop them, Our brothers,
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  we said, we matter not nor our transgression. It is only our brother
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  men who matter. Give no thought to us, for we are nothing.
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  But listen to our words, for we bring you a gift such as has
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  never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold the future
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  of mankind in our hands. Then they listened. We placed our glass box
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  on the table before them. We spoke of it, and of our long
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  quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from the palace of
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  corrective detention. Not a hand moved in that hall as we spoke, nor
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  an eye. Then we put the wires to the box, and they all
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  bent forward and sat still, watching, And we stood still, our eyes
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  upon the wire, and slowly, slowly, as a flush of blood,
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  a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed. But terror
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  struck the men of the council. They leaped to their feet, they ran
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  from the table. They stood pressed against the wall, huddled together, seeking
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  the warmth of one another's bodies to give them courage. We looked the them,
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  and we laughed and said, fear nothing, our brothers. There is
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  a great power in these wires. But this power is tamed. It is
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  yours. We give it to you. Still they would not move. We
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  give you the power of the sky, we cried, We give you the
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  key to the earth. Take it, and let us be one of you,
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  the humblest among you. Let us work together and harness this power and
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  make it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and
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  our torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a
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  new light to men. But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were
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  afraid, for their eyes were still and small and evil. Our brothers,
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  we cried, have you nothing to say to us? Then Collective zero zero
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  zero zero nine moved forward. They moved to the table, and the others
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  followed. Yes, spoke Collective zero zero zero zero nine, we have much
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  to say to you. The sound of their voice brought silence to the hall,
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  and to the beat of our heart. Yes, said Collective zero zero
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  zero zero nine. We have much to say to a wretch who have broken
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  all the laws, and who boast of their infamy. How dared you think
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  that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers. And if
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  the council had agreed that you'd be a street sweeper, how dared you think
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  that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets.
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  How dared you gut her cleaner? Spoke Fraternity nine three four five two.
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  To hold yourself as one alone and with thoughts of one and not of many,
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  you shall be burned at the stake, said de Maco six nine nine
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  eight. No, this should be lashed, said Unanimity seven three three oh
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  four, till there is nothing left under the lashes. No, said Collective
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  zero zero zero zero nine. We cannot decide upon this, our brothers.
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  No such crime has ever been committed, and it is not for us to
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  judge, nor for any small council. We shall deliver this creature to the
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  World Council itself, and let their will be done. We looked upon them,
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  and we pleaded, our brothers, you're right. Let the will of
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  the Council be done upon our body. We do not care but the light.
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  What will you do with the light? Collective zero zero zero zero nine
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  looked upon us, and they smiled. So you think you have found a
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  new power, said Collective zero zero zero zero nine. Do you think all
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  your brothers think that? No, we answered, what is not thought by
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  all men cannot be true, said collective zero zero zero zero nine. You
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  have worked on this alone, asked International one five five three seven. Yes,
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  we answered, What is not done collectively cannot be good, said International
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  one five five three seven. Many men in the homes of the scholars have
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  had strange new ideas in the past, said Solidarity eight one one sixty four.
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  But when the majority of their brother scholars voted against them, they abandoned
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  their ideas, as all men must. This box is useless, said Alliance
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  six seven three four nine. Should it be what they claim of it,
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  said Harmony nine two six four to two, then it would bring ruin to
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  the Department of candles. The candle is a great boon to mankind, as
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  approved by all men. Therefore it cannot be destroyed by the whim of one.
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  This would wreck the plans of the World Councils, said Unanimity to nine
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  nine one three. And without the plans of the World Council, the sun
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  cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the councils
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  for the candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to refit
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  the plans so as to make the candles instead of the torches this touched upon
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  thousands and thousands of men working in scores of states. We cannot alter the
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  plans again so soon. And if this should lighten the toil of men,
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  said similarity five zero three zero six, then it is a great evil,
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  for men have no cause to exist save in toiling for other men. Then
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  collective zero zero zero zero nine rose and pointed at our box. This thing,
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  they said, must be destroyed, And all the others cried as one,
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  it must be destroyed. Then we leapt to the table, We seized
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  our box. We shoved them aside, and we ran to the window.
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  We turned, and we looked at them for the last time, and a
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  rage such as is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice in
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  our throat. You fools, we cried, you fools, do you thrice?
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  Damned fools? We swung our fists through the windowpane, and we leapt
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  out in a ringing rain of glass. We fell, but we never let
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  the box fall from our hands. Then we ran, We ran blindly,
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  and men and houses streaked past us in a torrent without shape, And the
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  road seemed not to be flat before us, but as if it were leaping
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  up to meet us. And we waited for the earth to rise and strike
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  us in the face. But we ran. We knew not where we were
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  going. We knew only that we must run, run to the end of
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  the world, to the end of our days. Then we knew suddenly that
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  we were lying on a soft earth, and that we had stopped. Trees
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  taller than we had ever seen before stood over us in a great silence.
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  Then we knew we were in the uncharted forest. We had not thought of
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  coming here, but our legs had carried our wisdom, and our legs had
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  brought us to the uncharted forest against our will. Our glass lay beside us.
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  We crawled to it. We fell upon it, our face in our
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  arms, and we lay still. We lay thus for a long time.
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  Then we rose, We took our box and walked on into the forest.
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  It mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow us,
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  for they never entered the uncharted forest. We had nothing to fear from
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  them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This gave us no fear
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  either. Only we wished to be away from the city and the air that
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  touches upon the air of the city. So we walked on our box in
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  our arms, our heart empty. We are doomed. Whatever days are left
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  to us, we shall spend them alone. And we have heard of the
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  corruption to be found in solitude. We have torn ours from the truth which
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  is our brother men, and there is no road back for us, and
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  no redemption. We know these things, but we do not care. We
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  care for nothing on earth. We are tired. Only the glass box in
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  our arms is like living heart that gives us strength. We have lied to
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  ourselves. We have not built this box for the good of our brothers.
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  We built it for its own sake. It is above all our brothers.
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  To us, it is truth, above their truth. Why wonder about this?
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  We have not many days to live. We are walking to the fangs
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  awaiting us somewhere among the great silent trees. There is not a thing behind
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  us to regret. Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and
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  our only. We thought of the golden One. We thought of the golden
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  One, whom we shall never see again. Then the pain passed. It
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  is best we are one of the damned. It is best if the Golden
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  One forget our name and the body which bore that name. End Chapter seven.