Harmony
13

It was now the day of the next message, the 26th of September, 1975. Today’s group meal was a lunch meal rather than a dinner, so Tau and Rocsi had been looking up some recipes from books in the library and had selected a wide range of hot and cold dishes that were more suited. What made this group meal distinctive was that it was targeted towards the predicted arrival of the next message. Pixie had remarked to Suria that morning that she was not sure of the wisdom of building up the message too much in this way. Suria had to agree, but it was nice to celebrate a bit of a milestone. They had waited patiently for this next message to arrive, so why not reward themselves for doing so?

Suria’s work with Gimi in analysing group cohesion and function had convinced her that this was some sort of special task they had had been assigned to. The setup was all too perfect and was working too well to be otherwise. Some planning had gone into it. Perhaps they would know more after they saw the next set of words from whoever it was who had put them here. There could be anything in the message; or nothing at all. She thought it was wise not to get her hopes up and some of the more cautious types like Prina and Tau were of the same mind.

There was a good deal of speculation as to when the message would arrive. Would it be the dinner hour, like last time, so that it was exactly two weeks, or would it be triggered by all of them being in the gathering room? They had tried having morning tea as a group in front of the screen, but nothing happened. After a while they all went back to the kitchen and continued helping Tau and Rocsi with lunch. Food preparation was always fun, and it had been a week or so since their last group meal together.

At one point, Prina disappeared for a while. Suria asked Rivo where she’d gone and even he had no idea. She’d made her escape quite successfully for some reason. Just as she and Rivo were about to go and look for her, she arrived back in the kitchen with her arms full of colourful scarves: one for each of them. She had been busy in the last few days! Prina said that now that it was autumn and the weather was cooling down, these scarves might help keep them warmer. It was the one thing the village clothing supplies lacked, she said. Suria was genuinely surprised, and even Rivo had no idea she’d finished the task.

The scarves were so pretty and Prina had been thoughtful with the designs, trying to match them to colour preferences that she thought each person had. Suria could not remember when she told Prina that royal blue and violet were her favourite colours, because this was exactly the colour of her scarf. She loved it tremendously already and started putting it around her neck.

She hadn’t yet finished doing so when she heard the distinctive synthesized sounds of the big screen in the gathering room. The same music as two weeks ago was instantly recognisable and it could be heard above the chatter that ensued from all of them at the results of Prina’s clothes-making project. The chatter stopped and all twelve of them rushed into the gathering room, taking random seats on couches. Suria didn’t even bother to finish wrapping the scarf around her neck in her haste to get in viewing range of the screen. Pixie was still carrying her scarf, along with her pen and paper, ready to copy.

Not a word was spoken as they all took a seat. When Suria sat down on her couch, she saw that the screen was lit up as before, and the delightful Clair de Lune rendition was once again playing. The sound of that alone sent a thrill through her, as it was a signal of what was to come. In a village where everything was laid on for them, the one thing they lacked and craved the most was information.

After three run-throughs of Clair de Lune, the message started. Suria read eagerly as the words gradually appeared, in green capitalised letters across the screen.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE IN WAITING FOR THIS MESSAGE. WE EXPECT YOU ARE KEEN FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHY YOU ARE HERE. WE CAN TELL YOU AT THIS TIME THAT YOU ARE PART OF A MAJOR OPERATION OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO THE HUMAN RACE. THE OPERATION IS IN ITS EARLY STAGES. THERE IS A BRIEFING PLANNED FOR YOU IN THE NEAR FUTURE. WE CANNOT TELL YOU ANYTHING FURTHER AT THIS TIME.

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN ESPECIALLY FOR THE TASKS THAT YOU WILL SOON UNDERTAKE AS PART OF THIS OPERATION, AND YOUR SKILLS HAVE BEEN OPTIMISED TO ENSURE ITS SUCCESS. THERE IS NOTHING TO BE DONE YET EXCEPT FOR YOU TO CONTINUE TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER AND TO MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME IN YOUR VILLAGE.

WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR MISSING MEMORIES MAY STILL BE TROUBLING YOU. THERE ARE FIRM REASONS WHY YOU DO NOT REMEMBER MANY THINGS. IT IS BEST THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THESE REASONS UNTIL YOUR BRIEFING. WE ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU MIGHT STILL BE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR FAMILIES. AS WE SAID PREVIOUSLY THEY ARE AWARE OF WHERE YOU ARE.

STAY HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND ABOVE ALL CONTINUE TO LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER MESSAGE IN TWO WEEKS.

The message had played right through in one go, unlike two weeks earlier when there were several pauses. When it stopped, Suria had a rush of thoughts. Despite trying to prepare herself as best she could, she really had hoped they would tell her – tell everyone – why their memories were gone. They were stalling for some reason. At least this time they used the word “we”. It personalised the message much more, making her think they would meet the authors of it relatively soon. Perhaps they were also the organisers of this major operation they mentioned, whatever that was. She hoped that maybe soon there would be a more extended briefing, delivered in person, where they could finally learn how they had gotten here and what the purpose of all of this was.

The problem was that waiting two more weeks for more information would be perhaps too hard for many to deal with. She wasn’t that happy with it herself. Holding her patience up until now had been difficult. She was sure some of the others would be having a tougher time with it. Two further weeks with nothing else concrete would prolong their discomfort and cravings for definitive knowledge about why they were here and why their episodic memories were gone.

Strangely, one of the least extraverted of the villagers, Tau, was the one to break the silence. “That’s it? That’s all there is? What about our families? I can’t deal with this stalling anymore. I need to know.” Suria looked at him. Both of his hands were on top of his mostly shaven head, exasperation clearly showing on his face.

Rais responded to Tau, putting a positive spin on the message. “This message tell us about why we here. We be happy about most words of message. I know we want answers, but they not tell us. We not like it, but we must trust this.”

Tau was clearly supressing a response he didn’t want to utter. Suria guessed this was because he was aware that Rais was trying his best and had at least been empathetic in his assessment that the message wasn’t forthcoming with the answers everyone wanted.

Le broke the short silence that had ensued after Rais’ words. “You right, Rais. We know more now. But we want message tell us more. I want to know why we here, when we get memory back.”

Neca sighed and responded to Le. “I agree with that, Le. I don’t want to wait another two weeks and be told again that I can’t replace out what happened to my memory. I wish they had told us when we would know about this.” She lowered her head and cast her eyes downwards, her dark hair falling across her face, as she tried not to show her feelings to the group.

“Me too, Neca,” replied Arias. His tone however was optimistic. “Me too. But I am happy that we are doing something important to help the human race. I like that we can do this sort of work.”

Pixie followed up on Arias’ words. “We’ve been chosen. I like that too.”

Suria looked at Tau again. He was clearly struggling with himself. Rocsi was whispering something silently to him. However, Gimi was the next to offer his view on the message. Suria was momentarily distracted by his hair. He hadn’t tied it up this morning and it was long and luxurious, reaching down past his shoulders. It was alluring to her, and a bit disturbing at the same time, because she hadn’t once thought of him in that way until now. His words snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Their hands are tied – the originators of this message. They want to do more, but they can’t. They are trying to stall us, and they wish they could help but they’re unable to and we don’t know the reasons why. That to me is obvious now. I had my suspicions the first time around but now I’m sure of it.” Gimi was staying silent to allow others to talk. Suria knew him too well though: he had a lot more he wanted to say.

Bia took the opportunity to speak. “They didn’t tell us anything much, and they keep telling us not to worry, yeah? That is okay. There is nothing urgent to take care of for now. I agree with you Gimi that they are stalling us, but I don’t get why having our memories would be a problem. They haven’t explained that at all.”

Rivo had another perspective. “The problem is, my friends, is that they tell us our families know where we are. They don’t tell us our families are okay. That one thing – it worries me.”

Rocsi spoke next. “Tau has a problem with this, folks. I’m backing him totally in what he’s about to say.” She gave him an encouraging look. Suria was expecting something important, based on what she was seeing in their body language. They seemed nervous. She’d not seen that in either of them to date.

Tau was grave as he spoke. “I haven’t told anyone else this, but Rocsi.”

There was a pause, then Rocsi interjected. “But you’re going to tell them now.” Suria was totally intrigued. It appeared that Tau had been keeping something to himself. Even more curiously, he appeared to have only divulged this to Rocsi.

Tau sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about this before.”

Rais responded with compassion. “It is okay Tau. Some things are not easy. Please tell.”

Suria shot an appreciative glance at Rais. Suria knew that Tau respected Rais. They had been good friends since the moment they woke up together on the aircraft. His support was clearly appreciated.

“I have two daughters.” Tau’s words shocked Suria; she was totally unprepared for the truth and certainty in his tone. It was not what she had expected, despite her recent thoughts that he might be old enough to have children.

Tau continued quickly, as if he were getting rid of the words lest they continue to haunt him. “I saw them at a funeral during a vision I had on the first night we were here in the village. A funeral that I swear was my own, because they were crying for Daddy. I know they are my daughters – I’m totally sure of it. Their names are Keeya and Masego.”

Suria could clearly hear the angst in his voice. The implications of this were enormous. His own funeral? How was this possible? She remembered he appeared disturbed and tired, as if he’d had a bad night’s sleep, that next morning after they all arrived from the aircraft. Perhaps he’d had the vision the previous night. Seeing your own funeral, with your daughters crying at it, must be harrowing.

“I know this doesn’t sound possible – my own funeral. I’m alive, I’m here. The only thing I can think of is that for some reason my death was faked so I could be here, and I don’t have the first clue why that would be. Why would someone take me out of that life, and leave my girls without their Daddy?”

Suria had to put aside her shock at this latest revelation and be a source of support right away, although she suspected Rocsi had already done this to some extent. Empathy was the best approach.

“That must be so hard for you, Tau. Oh my god. That’s so sad.” Suria wanted to ask more about why he thought it was his own funeral but felt that would soften the empathy she wanted to get across.

“Sad, yes, but the thing is, I only remember their names and their faces. Nothing else comes to me. The emotions aren’t there, as if they aren’t even my girls although I know for sure that they are. I have no memory of my wife either, assuming I even have one. I owe it to my girls to tell them I’m okay, but the troubling part is: what happened to my love for them? I just don’t know why I don’t feel love when I think about them. I’ve tried for two weeks to figure this out. It’s why I have kept it to myself. I didn’t want to trouble anyone until I worked it out. I still haven’t, though.”

He kept talking, relieved to be discussing this after so much time had passed. “These people who are running this operation: they took our memories. For a reason they said. I don’t really understand that, but to some degree I can accept it. What I can’t accept is why they took love from us? That is by far the hardest thing for me to deal with. It hurts, and I keep getting waves of peace, then hurt, and then waves of peace again. It’s frustrating to say the least. I end up trying to distract myself as much as possible. Cooking and taking care of the village has helped, and of course being around all of you has been great too. Having love for my family taken away from me is just… it’s unfathomable.”

He stopped talking, and silence fell upon the room. Suria had been studying him the whole time. He had gotten across his principal problem: that he thought love had been taken from him. For that matter, from all of them. With this in mind Suria, more than ever, wanted to replace out why this had occurred. The group sat in silence for a few more moments. Tau’s situation and his words had cast a dark cloud over them all. Suria could not feel the waves of peace either. Maybe they were on their own this time and had to take action.

Rocsi had already thought of the next step. Admittedly she had had more time to think about this. “We need to go and visit that other town on the map: Versena. It’s the only place that has any chance of helping us understand why our memories are gone, along with our love for our families. We need replace someone who can help Tau get a message to his daughters that he’s alive.”

Le responded enthusiastically. “I want this too. I want no more lost memory. I wait to long for answer. I want Tau to get help too. He need to get message out. We go Rocsi, we must go. It time for that now.” Le’s own flashback on the ocean in the boat had been death related as well, Suria suspected. It was implied, according to Le’s account, although she never had said so directly.

“Le, may I ask? Your memory of that scene two weeks ago: what was it that scared you the most?” Suria hoped she had not led her too much.

“That I go to my death. I don’t see it, but Tau did. Why we remember our death? How are we here if we die? I not know that answer. But I know one thing: if we all here, maybe we all die and we in strange place for people who die? Maybe not safe place but seem like it safe?” Le’s words cast a shadow over the whole group, mostly because of the distinct possibility that they were true. Did they all die? If so, was this some alternate reality they were in? Suria had to confront this for the first time, and she didn’t like it.

One ‘death’ could be explained perhaps as a figment of the imagination, but it was harder to brush off two of them. If there were two, the implication was very much there that perhaps they had all died. The was evidence that this had indeed happened. Pixie’s remembrance of a traumatic event where she could not escape and seemed to threaten her life added credence to the theory. Arias too: he had talked about a flash memory of being a captive. There was too much going on that they could no longer ignore. Gimi spoke before Suria was able to.

“We are getting too much of this bad stuff coming through. It might be masking a reality that none of us want to confront. Did we die, all of us, and that’s how we lost our memory? If we did, where the hell are we? Is this all some strange netherworld, and the veils of niceness here are going to fall away and leave us in some sort of hell? Suria’s theory of a fake heaven is making more sense to me now. I’m starting to believe it. I’m hating it, but I’m starting to believe it.”

Silence from the group for a few moments. Suria felt she must respond.

“I didn’t want to be right, but maybe I am. It doesn’t feel like we’re in the afterlife, but how would we know? How would anyone know? You can’t test it and come back, can you? Without memory I don’t know the answer to this either. I’m so lost right now. Maybe the only answer is to replace help as soon as we can, and Versena seems like our only hope.” The waves of peace weren’t coming either. Suria felt like their world was crumbling around them.

Rais interjected, preventing that thought from going further. “We go to Versena. We must. This end now. We go tomorrow. We don’t know what happen to us. I was in aircraft crash too, and I die. I have no vision like others, but is only thing make sense.”

“I’m scared,” said Bia. “I’m really scared. I want us to go to Versena as soon as we can.” Bia looked disturbed in a way Suria had never seen her before.

Suria was starting to truly despair. Revelations of deaths and possible alternate realities were becoming more real now. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. As she looked at some of the others, such as Pixie, Arias and Prina, she could see similar expressions: they were on the edge of tears too.

Their beautiful reality was falling away from them, and it was horrifying.

Then they came, just when she thought all was lost. The feelings were far greater than she had ever experienced before. She was glad she was sitting down. She may have fallen over. She felt like she was being embraced in the most wonderful hug in the history of all hugs, where nothing could ever be wrong ever again. She started crying tears of relief. As she did so, she could hear others doing the same. She didn’t care. She wanted to lose herself in it all. Maybe it would be alright. She closed her eyes and let the good feelings wash over her.

It would be alright. Whoever just did that, sent those waves, had great power. That was evident. The only thing now was to replace out who it was, and how they were doing it. If they could do this, they could restore their memories too, and explain everything, fix everything.

But then, was this a veneer, a fake thing, covering up their reality? And if so, why?

No-one said anything as the group silently took in the collective relief. Then Rocsi broke the silence. “Those damned waves of peace, yeah? Always making us feel good when we don’t want to.” She had absolutely nailed what they were all feeling.

Nonetheless, something had to be done soon, before they all lost their minds completely.