A Book by Alexie (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

touch it directly, that would get him dirty, and waited for a response. A feminine voice came through the intercom. “Yes sir?”

“Get me Greeg.” said Kaymore in a very calm voice.

“Right away sir.” said the disembodied woman's voice.

After a few moments a low buzz could be heard from Kaymore's counsel. Again he passed a finger over the appropriate display light.

“Greeg here.” Stated a course male voice.

“I have another job for you, I'll send you the specifics over air.” Kaymore replied in his unwavering calm voice.

“Yes, sir.” Stated Greeg, and the connection was broken.

With a wave of his fingers over more displays an image appeared in mid air in front of Kaymore. With deft precision he manipulated the image to his purpose, then the image was gone. He loved living here in the compound, he never had to touch anything unless he desired to. Getting his hands dirty repulsed Kaymore as it did most compounders, the fear of spreading disease and germs was gouache. Human contact was only tolerable for specific occasions.

Being in public required all flesh to be covered by a minimum of barrier cloth. Though to the common eye of the non compounder it didn't appear to be much of a barrier as it looked to be a simple sheer wispy cloth. But, the barrier cloth was anything but flimsy or cloth. It was comprised of extremely strong micro weave of such a dense filtration fibers that were compacted so that it filtered air and light to the wearer and even filtered ones breath to others around. One didn't wish to smell what someone else had for lunch. That would be disgusting. It prevented microbial life forms from penetrating to the wearer. Thus preventing the spread of any form of contagion. One thing above all the compounders were completely phobic about germs and anything that may cause illness.

In years past decades, several disease had nearly wiped out the human race. Some were air born while others were spread by simple contact. This is what lead most people to retreat to domed compounds. The air here was filtered and recycled many times over. The water was obtained from deep springs and as the air was cleaned heavily before allowed for human use, so was any substance that came into the compound for use or consumption. Then came physical restrictions, imposed by those who believed extremist views, that all human contact should be strictly regulated. Thus laws were enacted to prevent any casual contact without consent and in private only. Thus limiting the spread of any germs to the general public.

Some people though that the diseases had always been present. That just because of overzealous use of sterilizers and sanitizers along with the misuse of antibiotics caused the human race to become weak and easy targets. While others felt it was germ warfare from some foreign nation gone horribly wrong was the cause. The truth may have been a combination of the two, but not enough people who ran the governments had survived long enough to let the people know exactly how it happened or why, it just happened. 40 billion lives were lost in the first decade after the initial outbreaks leaving the worlds population on the brink of extinction.

Those with technology and extremely fearful gathered in the compounds. Those who were least affected by the diseases were the people of small rural communities. For some reason they were hearty enough to withstand the on-slot. Only the weak or sick suffered. Thus most people of these communities stayed where they were and never altered their way of life. The town's people were oblivious to the compounds till it came time to trade food for medicines or other needed technological support. Over time some of the rural folk came to live for a time in the compounds. They came to learn and to earn money. Some learned medicine, others about the technology that could be used in their communities. Later it was the compounds who sought out the help of the townies. Certain jobs were just too dirty or too disgusting for the compounders to handle. Thus the symbiotic relationship was born. Compounders tolerated the dirty townies and the townies tolerated the cleanies. Both needed the other yet neither could understand the other.

Kaymore was not a lifer of the compound. He had come from a distant community where he felt his intellect was under appreciated. He hated getting his hands dirty and desired to pursue other ventures. Ones that would gain him wealth and prestige. After arriving at his first compound he found it easy to fit in. He simply adopted the life style of the people and never admitted to his origins. Once he found his place in society he succeeded quite nicely. If he got board of one compound he'd simply move to the next. His current compound was his fifth since his initial new life began amongst the cleanies, and this was the largest of them all. So much wealth to be had here and power too. He felt that this would be his final home and here he'd have the largest impact of all.

Kaymore had another plan other than just wealth and power. He had a dream that with the knowledge he'd gained over the years and with his experimentation, on other poor souls, was at the point of a breakthrough. But, it would seem that the less perfect people in his employ were causing unnecessary delays and setbacks that were intolerable to him.

****

Anton couldn't get Cassie out of his head. He wanted to see her again but that would be a bit difficult. He tried to figure a way to make things happen but was running into brick walls. She lived in a sector that was completely on the opposite side of the compound from him. Hearing her voice over a com channel just wasn't enough. He so wanted to go swimming with her in their pond, and a few other things. To touch her, to see her up close with out her cloths, to kiss her and of course break the sexual dry spell he'd been going through for the past 5 years. He often wondered if he'd forgotten how to satisfy a woman.

His promotion was still pending his acceptance, and that acceptance would confine him even more to where he was, away from Cassie. She worked with biometrics in the medical laboratory. Nothing too exciting but it paid well. All medicals were confined to one sector to ease the minds of the cleanies of the possibility of contamination from anything. So for Anton to move to her sector he'd have to be a medical tech or something in the medical field. He was far from that. Entering the sector was time consuming. One needed to be on real business to enter, so no casual visits were allowed. Cassie couldn't come into his sector unless she was on business either. She had to be thoroughly cleared of any contaminants and pass a rigorous physical exam before she was allowed to leave. That procedure could take hours.

No one cared if they went outside the compound from their respective sectors. The re-entering from outside was a more detailed screening and exams. They had to enter back into the compound from the exits they had taken so there was no slipping past the air lock system so that wouldn't help either. To make matters even worse they worked opposite shifts from each other that it was a wonder that they had met at all.

Anton decided maybe there was something he could do to change his situation. Maybe there was something he may be minimally qualified for on Cassie's side of the compound. He started looking at the job postings for the medical sector. After looking for several hours at all the posting he was about to give up when he saw a posting under test subjects needed for study. The pay was about half of what he was making now. If he accepted the promotion that would cause his pay to double. He knew that Cassie wouldn't approve of this type of move on his part. So he started looking for something she might qualify for on his side of the compound.

Then it occurred to him that if he accepted the promotion that meant that he had the power to hire out for specialists and with her expertise in biometrics he might be able to get her a waver to work with him on say new bio-genetic security protocols. He had to do some checking to see if that would be valid but he felt this was definitely workable. His spirits lifted and he couldn't wait to tell her of his idea.

Cassie worried about Anton. She so much wanted to see him again but all the issues that separated them were almost too insurmountable. She hadn't heard from him in several days and worried that he'd lost interest due to all the issues keeping them apart. She tried to change her schedule to match his but her boss wouldn't have it. She tried to change fields of work but no one wanted to touch her resume for fear she might be a contamination risk. “Why did I even think anything could possibility happen? It's just my bad luck with men all over again.” She complained to herself as she prepared for bed. She struggled to sleep as her thoughts about Anton and the hopeless situation for any possible relationship became depressing to her. All the ideas she could think of turned to dust under scrutiny. She was at a total loss now on what to do next.

****

Stanley was not a pleasant man. He was always angry. It seemed to him that he could never do anything right. Even the simplest tasks seemed to be out of his reach. This made him nervous and easily agitated. He'd just landed a new position with securities and was starting to feel content and able to finally accomplish something working in the filing department in the bowels of the compound. No one ever came to see him, so no need to be jumpy. It's hard to mess up filing when it's all done by computer database. All you had to do is punch in the file and the computer told you where the file went or where to find it. Simple, easy, quiet, and very peaceful. Well, that was until he got an assignment from higher up. He was asked to retrieve a package. Not a problem or so he thought originally. He'd gotten the package the other day and filed it. Then he was asked to retrieve it. He knew exactly where he'd filed it so there was no need to check the data base. He got to the spot and it wasn't there. He went to check to see who might have checked it out. The data base said that it was still where it should be. He informed his boss of this and she was not pleased at all. This made Stanley very anxious. He'd lost an important package and his butt was now on the line. There had been an inquire and an investigation. Things for Stanley weren't looking good at all. He was afraid that he'd lose his job, again.

Just then his door buzzer sounded, letting him know someone was at the door. He opened the door view to see a strange man standing there. “Who is it?” He asked.

“It's Mr. Greeg from the head office, I need to speak to Mr. Stanley Banks.”

“One moment please.” Stanleys voice crackled with signs of worry and stress. Stanley fumbled with the locks