John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

We figured out last night that we have enough food for about two more months. Wilson, according to Elias, who checked in on him recently, has no idea or theory or even a guess as to when we’ll be able to leave. Elias said that our pal looked a little haggard. We think he needs a break. At this point I suppose it’s anybody’s guess when we can leave.

But what we talked about next made me feel a little uneasy. Leah asked Elias how we could know for sure that it would be safe to go out, even if the wind just stopped all of a sudden. There isn’t anyone broadcasting over the satellite stations anymore. Hasn’t been for a long time. I had wondered if the satellites were still working, but one of the techie guys we have here told me that they were self-sufficient up there in space, and unless something happened to take them out, they would keep orbiting, waiting for someone to bounce a signal off them. I guess nobody is.

The techie also said that, as long as some of the servers on the Internet were still running, there would be an Internet, even if no one was on it. The problem is that we never did have access to the Internet at Aegis. The phones that Faulk and his men brought in had access to the Web for a little while. We were able to get some news that way, but only for a few days. They think that the power to the cell tower closest to Aegis probably went out, because on about the third or fourth day, we couldn’t get a signal. And then the batteries went dead on the phones and Faulk’s team hadn’t thought to bring their chargers in here with them. We could probably rig up a charger, but what’s the point with no signal?

We went through all of this again last night and still didn’t have an answer to Leah’s question. Guess we’ll just have to trust in the fact that the wind wouldn’t be switched off unless it was safe to leave. And, of course, the next question was, what if the wind doesn’t switch off and we run out of food? That was when the evening ended.

Hello, future folks. I really wish I could be with you and know how this all turns out. It’s about eleven o’clock at night. We just finished having an open board meeting, and people are getting a little edgy. I suppose that I can’t blame them. I got up and spoke to the crowd — funny, I never would have been caught dead doing something like that a few months ago — and I talked about how it was before the event. Most of the people here now have been here for some time, but more than two hundred of our residents are last-day newbies. That’s why I thought I should talk, since I was a first-dayer.

I tried to explain that everything is still the way it was, that we had been able to get along for years without any real problems, except for the riot and ZooCity, of course. So there wasn’t any reason to start getting all itchy now. Someone stood up and said it was different, because we all had known there was a civilization out there. I didn’t know what to say to that.

One man, one of the newbies, I think his name is Trent, wanted us to open the back door. He said he was convinced, I don’t know how, that the bug was dead and that it would be okay to leave. I started to argue with him and then I stopped. His question made me ask myself a different one. Is Aegis a refuge or a prison? One of the things Milton Pierce talks about all the time is personal responsibility. Wouldn’t that apply to this situation? Wouldn’t Trent have a right to leave if he wants to go? He knows the facts. He knows that there’s plenty of room here, and still plenty of food.

Those were all only my thoughts. Then I said them out loud. I asked the board and the people in the audience what they thought. Man, did we have a discussion! There were some in the group who believed that we had to stick together, that we had to make sure everybody stayed inside until we all left together, when we were certain it was safe to go. I didn’t ask them how they would make sure nobody left. Did they want to lock people up? I also didn’t bring up my discussion with Elias and Leah about exactly how we would be certain, even after the wind stopped. I thought that would be too much for one night.

There were others who believed that it was Trent’s choice. We never did take a vote. I’m beginning to understand much of what Milton carries on about. After all the folks had a chance to state their opinions on the subject, he got up and said the board would discuss the matter further and we would reconvene to share our consensus with the residents. I expected the people in the audience to get ticked off when he said it, but they didn’t! I was watching their faces and they were glad. I don’t know if it was because they all had a chance to be heard. I don’t know if it was because they were glad not to be the ones making the decision. I don’t know if it was because they wanted to be led, and trusted us to come to the right decision. If that’s the case, then this whole governing thing just got a lot heavier on my shoulders.

Anyway, the meeting finally broke up and the board is meeting tomorrow to talk about it. I already know which way it’s going to go. The board is going to decide to open the back door. That decision is the only one we can come to and remain consistent with everything else we’ve said and done so far.

I’m exhausted. Good night, future folks.

We met. We voted. We open the back door in three days. We want to give Trent a chance to change his mind.

Four people left today — Trent, his girlfriend, and another couple I don’t really know all that well. They promised that they would come back in a few days and let us know it was all clear to leave. This probably isn’t consistent with being a good governor, but I couldn’t make myself see them off at the back door.

Still no sign of Trent. People are taking turns up on the roof, in the cold, watching for them.

None of us think they’ll be coming back. They would have by now. The people who were going up to the roof to watch have stopped. No one else is talking about leaving. Jay welded the back door again.

Fewer and fewer people are showing up for the cross-training classes. I think that they don’t believe we’re going to get out of here.

I quit playing chess with Keith. I just couldn’t concentrate on the game anymore.

Milton took the board of governors on a tour of the food lockers today. It isn’t looking good. At the current rate of consumption, we are going to run out in less than two weeks. After we looked at the small amounts left, we had a meeting in private, supposedly to discuss a contingency plan. But none of us had anything to suggest, not even Wilson. Seriously, what kind of a contingency plan can we come up with? It isn’t as if we have any options. Milton had one of the medical staff join us and talk about how long people can last with no food. It was depressing.

Wilson suggested that we keep the status of the food a secret from everyone else. He couldn’t see any benefit in telling. We voted on it and his suggestion won. I voted with him, but wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

I had a horrible nightmare last night, after our meeting about the food. In the nightmare, Milton suggested that we needed to prioritize the value of the residents at Aegis, in terms of how much they will contribute to the new society when we get out, with the most valuable at the top of the list, down to the least valuable at the bottom. Then we would kill the last one on the list and eat him. We would work our way up the list until the wind stopped. He was so cold, so pragmatic, in the dream, with flow charts and everything, showing us how much longer we would live under this system. I woke up right after I punched him in the face.