Anthem Page #10

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age.

• Science fiction

								

      and nothing had been touched. And our glass box stood before us
      on the cold oven, as we had left it. What matter they now, the
      scars upon our back!

      Tomorrow, in the full light of day, we shall take our box, and
      leave our tunnel open, and walk through the streets to the Home
      of the Scholars. We shall put before them the greatest gift ever
      offered to men. We shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to
      them, as our confession, these pages we have written. We shall
      join our hands to theirs, and we shall work together, with the
      power of the sky, for the glory of mankind. Our blessing upon
      you, our brothers! Tomorrow, you will take us back into your fold
      and we shall be an outcast no longer. Tomorrow we shall be one of
      you again. Tomorrow...

      PART SEVEN

      It is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head,
      black against the last gold of the sky. The moss is soft and
      warm. We shall sleep on this moss for many nights, till the
      beasts of the forest come to tear our body. We have no bed now,
      save the moss, and no future, save the beasts.

      We are old now, yet we were young this morning, when we carried
      our glass box through the streets of the City to the Home of the
      Scholars. No men stopped us, for there were none about from the
      Palace of Corrective Detention, and the others knew nothing. No
      men stopped us at the gate. We walked through empty passages and
      into the great hall where the World Council of Scholars sat in
      solemn meeting.

      We saw nothing as we entered, save the sky in the great windows,
      blue and glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long
      table; they were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of the
      great sky. There were men whose famous names we knew, and others
      from distant lands whose names we had not heard. We saw a great
      painting on the wall over their heads, of the twenty illustrious
      men who had invented the candle.

      All the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These
      great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us, and
      they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a
      miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn and stained with
      brown stains which had been blood. We raised our right arm and we
      said:

      “Our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council
      of Scholars!”

      Then Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council,
      spoke and asked:

      “Who are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar.”

      “Our name is Equality 7-2521,” we answered, “and we are a Street
      Sweeper of this City.”

      Then it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the
      Scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened.

      “A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World
      Council of Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all
      the rules and all the laws!”

      But we knew how to stop them.

      “Our brothers!” we said. “We matter not, nor our transgression.
      It is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for
      we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift
      such as had never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold
      the future of mankind in our hands.”

      Then they listened.

      We placed our glass box upon the table before them. We spoke of
      it, and of our long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape
      from the Palace of Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that
      hall, as we spoke, nor an eye. Then we put the wires to the box,
      and they all bent forward and sat still, watching. And we stood
      still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly, slowly as a flush of
      blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed.

      But terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their
      feet, they ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the
      wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of one another’s
      bodies to give them courage.

      We looked upon them and we laughed and said:

      “Fear nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these
      wires, but this power is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you.”

      Still they would not move.

      “We give you the power of the sky!” we cried. “We give you the
      key to the earth! Take it, and let us be one of you, the humblest
      among you. Let us all work together, and harness this power, and
      make it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and
      our torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a
      new light to men!”

      But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid. For their
      eyes were still, and small, and evil.

      “Our brothers!” we cried. “Have you nothing to say to us?”

      Then Collective 0-0009 moved forward. They moved to the table and
      the others followed.

      “Yes,” spoke Collective 0-0009, “we have much to say to you.”

      The sound of their voices brought silence to the hall and to beat
      of our heart.

      “Yes,” said Collective 0-0009, “we have much to say to a wretch
      who have broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy!

      “How dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the
      minds of your brothers? And if the Councils had decreed that you
      should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be
      of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets?”

      “How dared you, gutter cleaner,” spoke Fraternity 9-3452, “to
      hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of the one and
      not of the many?”

      “You shall be burned at the stake,” said Democracy 4-6998.

      “No, they shall be lashed,” said Unanimity 7-3304, “till there is
      nothing left under the lashes.”

      “No,” said Collective 0-0009, “we cannot decide upon this, our
      brothers. No such crime has ever been committed, and it is not
      for us to judge. Nor for any small Council. We shall deliver this
      creature to the World Council itself and let their will be done.”

      We looked upon them and we pleaded:

      “Our brothers! You are right. Let the will of the Council be done
      upon our body. We do not care. But the light? What will you do
      with the light?”

      Collective 0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled.

      “So you think that you have found a new power,” said Collective
      0-0009. “Do all your brothers think that?”

      “No,” we answered.

      “What is not thought by all men cannot be true,” said Collective
      0-0009.

      “You have worked on this alone?” asked International 1-5537.

      “Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas
      in the past,” said Solidarity 8-1164, “but when the majority of
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