Book Review: Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky - 4thwallfly

This week's science fiction book takes place deep underground in a world with little hope. Actually, in all honesty, the book's world has no hope. It is a story of the dying struggles of mankind as it turns slowly away from the world above and spins its own myths and legends in the world below.
It's Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

Cover Art copyright of respective owner.

'The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. A few thousand live on, not knowing if they are the only survivors on the planet.
They live in the Moscow Metro - the biggest air-raid shelter ever build. It is humanity's last refuge. It is a world without a tomorrow, with no room for dreams, plans, hopes. Feelings have given way to instinct - the most important of which is survival. Survival at any price. 

VDNKh is the nothernmost inhabited station on its line and still remains secure. But now a new and terrible threat has appeared. Artyom, a young man living in VDNKh, is given the task of penetrating to the heart of the Metro, to the legendary Polis, to alert everyone to the awful danger and to get help. He holds the future of his native station in his hands, the future of the Metro - and maybe the whole of humanity.' Metro 2033 - Dmitry Glukhovsky [2007], Translation - Natasha Randall [2009]

Metro 2033 is set in a world of dingy darkness. The world has been ravaged by nuclear war (during a Cold War that had not remained cold but had ended up getting rather hot). The surface is an uninhabitable wasteland that belongs to the mutated creatures that now thrive in the light of the radioactive cities. Artyom is a young man whose home station is under terrible threat. He is directed by a Stalker called Hunter (Stalker is the title of near-mythic heroes who run salvage missions on the surface) to tell the heart of the metro, Polis, of the threat that faces VDNKh. This threat, coming from the next station along, the abandoned botanical gardens, is a threat that might bring ruin to the entire metro.

The story is episodic in style, each station and each step of the journey is almost an entirely separate world from the previous. Artyom's travels allow him to realise that his station is not some far-flung outpost that protects the metro alone, but merely one of many struggling for survival and within the metro itself, stations vie with each other over resources, ideology and creed.

The Moscow Metro is a classic tourist destination for visitors to Moscow thanks to the beautiful architecture within the stations, however, Metro 2033 turns away from its beauty and presents a world alone and in the dark. Mankind has become so used to the flare of emergency lighting that they are blinded by the light of the sun. Stalkers only dare operate at night.

This is not the story of a bright future, or of mankind banding together to face the threat of the ruined world. This is not the story of progressive mankind. This is the story of man's descent into smaller and smaller communities as they turn their back on the world they had once known and embrace the darkness below with their own myths and legends. Such is the darkness of the world that each station lives in that these myths and legends have taken life as facts.


Food for thought:


Frankly, this is a lovely setting. Not entirely original (though in this day and age that's a hard mantle to assume). It is a bleak tale certainly, and a bleaker setting, but this story nevertheless conjures some fantastic differences between stations and there is great detail in the world setting throughout the book in the form of the people Artyom meets and the stories they share.
However, that does lead directly to the first problem. The setting of Metro 2033 is strongly developed but mostly told to the reader by characters, rather than shown (which is always the more subtle and more interesting way to develop 'lore' around a setting). The other issue is that, despite this deep and dark (pun intended on the Metro there) setting, there is actually very little drama for Artyom. His story is less about his journey through the metro and becomes more a vehicle for the author to use to display the metro. It is only near the last quarter (or so) of the book that Artyom's tale rises to the forefront, but the majority of the book revolves more around the various stations that Artyom finds himself at.

In its own way, the author has written charicatures of ideologies and creeds in each of Artyom's encounters, one dimensional belief systems that control stations. Artyom meets with Communist stations that war with the fascist Fourth Reich, he is captured by cannibals, talks with traders of the capitalist Hansa and listens to stories from born-again Christians, Trotskyists and more. Sadly, each of these examples are rendered without much depth which results in the feeling that Metro 2033's universe is deep and intriguing but without much impact.

On the interesting side, the author frequently visits the concept of humanity and what exactly that means in this dark age. The world is grim, highlighted by small realities (the currency for example is ammunition, to have weapons and bullets is to have both physical power and spending capability). The threat to VDNKh and the rest of the metro is not at all physical but psychological. There is little humour in this book to relieve the reader of the story's tone.

However, in the midst of all this, we are treated to Artyom's education of the world he inhabits. Raised in one of the metro's far-flung outposts he is the equivalent of an unworldly, untravelled person. He is essentially himself an innocent to the metro, though this is true in its own way of each station's inhabitants. There are endless myths that Artyom cannot separate from fact because his world differs so vastly from ours. There is no ability to merely 'check' the truth, no ability to merely be sceptical as the world is dark enough to believe near anything. As an example, Artyom is told that there is a station that takes people and forces them to dig downwards. The station is run by satanists who believe that the metro and life there is merely just a layer of hell itself and that to connect the metro with the hell that ran deeper would be to bring about the end of days. He is told rumours about the Kremlin, that he should never look too closely at it, for should the light catch those domes he might be drawn in like a moth to the flames. He even encounters a society of luddites who worship a 'Great Worm' that they attribute as the creator of the metro's tunnels, arguing that mankind had arrived after it had passed to build in its wake. There's no real way that Artyom can prove or disprove anything he is told and it boils down to a simple fact for the young man. He is free to choose how he should think on his world. The world of metro is shaped mostly by belief and almost regressive 'caveman-like' behaviour of wild stories around campfires, though Artyom does not ever commit to any one of the beliefs around him.

In our world it is easy to scoff at say, the satanists for example, but in Artyom's world, a world were strange beasts roam the surface and stranger creatures threaten the metro, a world where some stations are so badly affected by horrific creations of science and a by-gone war that the tunnels must be collapsed, it would be hard to tell where truth ended and fiction started. There are stories of the souls of the dead caught in the pipes of the metro, strange anomalies that incite fear and terror, rumours of a Soviet missile base still functioning. 

It is ironic that despite the setting and the slow pace of the narrative that we are treated to fairly blunt intimations that Artyom possesses an unique destiny with even Artyom himself coming to believe that he has an allotted path, and should he continue on it he would remain unharmed. It is rare that the character of a book acknowledges his own plot-given right to survive no matter the odds.

In summary, the book has an interesting setting but fails to deliver a plot to match with it. Artyom's tale results in the feeling that even Artyom is merely along for the ride as he is taken from station to station and shown the glory (and horror) of the metro world.

Book Review: Inverted World by Christopher Priest - 4thwallfly

Welcome to the Fly on the 4th Wall. This week's book review will skirt the edges of science fiction to a story about a city that cannot stop. No, I'm not talking about New York City.
Presenting the city in:
Inverted World by Christopher Priest:

Cover art copyright of Chris Moore/Artist Partners

'The city is winched along its tracks through a devastated world. Rails must be laid ahead of it and removed in its wake. If the city does not move, it will fall behind the 'optimum' and into a crushing gravitational field. The alternative to progress is death.

The rulers of the city make sure its inhabitants know nothing of this. But the dwindling population is growing restive. And the rulers know that the city is falling further and further behind.' - Inverted World, Christopher Priest [1974]

Inverted World delivers on its promise, presenting the story of Helward Mann (a fitting name if ever there was one) as he grows up in the city of Earth, coming to terms with the world around him in Earth's desperate struggle for survival. The people of Earth haul their city ever northwards, aiming for the ever elusive 'optimum' ahead of them, navigating a hostile landscape to do so. Helward Mann, thanks to his father's prestigious position, joins the guild of Future Surveyors and embarks on a journey that takes him away from Earth, learning about the world outside the city, the truth behind Earth's constant struggle north and the fate that awaits the city in the south.

The story is set in a universe that is the inverse of our own. We live in what is effectively (though not actually) an infinite universe on a finite planet. However, Inverted World is set in a finite universe upon an infinite planet. There's a rather impressive and enjoyable twist at the end, so not much more will be said on this beyond an explanation of the Inverted World premise.

Inverted World is told primarily from Helward Mann's point of view with only a few parts told from Elizabeth Khan's point of view, though nothing will be revealed of her either for much the same reason as above. Despite being entirely cryptic about book, I recommend reading it as it delivers a fascinating world setting and a twist that leaves you feeling delighted at the end.


Click below for the full synopsis (click to open/close):

The book opens with a prologue, starting with Elizabeth Khan's point of view. She appears to be a visitor to a village of people, witnessing their dancing and some parts of their lives, though she is a visitor like Father dos Santos. The villagers appear to live a simplistic lifestyle but as Elizabeth goes through the village she spots Luiz, someone she had not seen at the festivities, clutching a satchel of supplies and in the darkness of the falling night she hears the sounds of a horse galloping away.

The story picks up again from Helward's point of view who had just reached six hundred and fifty miles in age. He is a young man who has become 'of age' and is readying himself for the initiation into the life of a guild apprentice, following the steps of his father who is a guildsman himself. He had grown up without a mother, a woman who had left Earth shortly after his birth and been raised in a creche. Helward's life is planned for this moment, his marriage to Victoria Lerouex already arranged. A guild administrator ushers him into a chamber filled with guild representatives who ask Helward to confirm his identity and age for them. Having done so, they ask all of those who are not part of the first rank guilds to leave the room. Once the room is clear, they ask Helward what guild he intends to join to which he replies the Future Surveyors. His nomination to the guild is proposed by his father (Future Surveyor Mann) and seconded by Bridge-Builder Lerouex. Having been proposed successfully, Future Surveyor Clausewitz (head of the Future Surveyor Guild) asks Helward to decide there and then if he is willing to take the oath of the guild. The oath is not to be taken lightly as breach of the oath would be met with death. Helward decides to take the oath, repeating the words required by the Lord Navigator. However, contained within the oath is a mention of keeping confidential whatever Helward should see and learn of the nature of the world beyond Earth. Having taken the oath, Helward is greeted as an apprentice of the Future guild.

Helward notes for the first time that his father and fellow guildmembers' ages don't seem to match quite right with their peers in other guilds. He continues to brood on his acceptance into the guild, pleased with the idea that his promotion into the guild proper as a guildsman was said to be based on ability rather than time. He decides to ask one of the Traction guildsmen about Gelman Jase, his friend from the creche (though a several miles older than him), only to be told that he was away on guild business and would be away for many miles to come. The administrators are invited back into the hall and food prepared as they announce Helward's acceptance into the Future Surveyor guild to the administrative staff, though not before reminding Helward that the terms of his oath and the secrecy inherent applied immediately. Before starting the ceremony, Clauswitz announces the arranged marriage between Helward Mann and Victoria Lerouex. Though Victoria is brought into the festivities, the two of them are given no opportunity to talk to each other.

Helward is given a key to the city's creche and told to continue using his cabin there until accommodation with the guild could be sorted out for him. The next morning, he is awoken very early by one of his fellow guildsmen, Future Denton, who takes Future Mann silently through Earth, leading him to a dark and cold place. As his eyes adjust slowly, Helward realises he is outside of Earth for the first time in his life, standing with his hands on a rail with the enclosed and opaque city behind him. New sensations such as the cold wind and the smell of the soil excite Helward as he goes on to witness the first sunrise in his life, though the sun Helward sees is not the one we know. The sun is described as a rounded light with two spires of light above and below the rounded part. He is then left in the care of Track Malchuskin who makes a coffee for Helward, telling him he knew his father, that the two of them had been in the creche together, though Helward finds it hard to believe Track Malchuskin and his father were the same age. Track Malchuskin tells Helward not to worry about it, that he would find out the hard way just like other guild members had. He orders Helward to come with him and uses a wrench to wake up a collection of men, telling Helward that he was not to spend too much time with these men as they were not from the city and prone to creating some trouble (though Malchuskin's meaning is that these people are lazy and prone to stopping work at the slightest excuse). Malchuskin goes on to point out Rafael, the leader of the group as he was the one with the best knowledge of English.

After a few hours with these men, Helward is given the same impression of their lack of work ethic, despite being hired and paid by the city. Though Helward is able to empathise with them because the weather was hot and the work exhausting. Helward's work applies to four rail tracks that stretch south of the city for half a mile, each capped by a timber sleeper that was built on a sunken concrete foundation. The hired labour and two guild members work on shortening the rails south of Earth by digging up the tracks and moving the sleepers forward, though a large concrete buffer is left in place to prevent Earth sliding back on the rails should the winches that towed her ever break. Malchuskin adds that the Earth had slid back once before and that the buffer wouldn't really put up much resistance to the city's slide, but was nevertheless left in place. At the end of the day, Malchuskin reveals his distaste for the hired labour, mentioning that procuring a workforce was the domain of the Barters guild and that he'd prefer city folk but due to the guild system could not be expected to tell the city-folks of the outside world and its requirements. Before sending Helward to sleep, he suggests he should stay behind to watch the sundown during which Helward observes the same sun as he had seen that morning, a spherical shape with a line of solid light both above and below the sphere. Malchuskin points out to Helward that the guild believed in throwing their apprentices into the deep end, the better for their apprentices to realise that the world was not the same as they had been taught. He adds to Helward that he should think on the nature of the sun he had observed, before letting Helward go to sleep.

The next morning, Helward awakes in great pain, his body simply unused to the physical labour he had demanded from it yesterday, though he is given some comfort from Malchuskin's comment that it is always the same for the apprentices fresh from Earth. Malchuskin sends Helward off to eat breakfast then take a hot bath within the city. From the city's exterior, Helward is able to gain an understanding of his home, taking from his excursion outside that his home was smaller than he had imagined it to be. Earth, by Helward's reckoning, is not more than 200ft high and almost entirely constructed from timber. He estimates Earth's length at around 500ft, giving the impression that this is not a city in the modern understanding of the word. Far from it. On finding the doorway back into the city though, Helward realises he has no idea how to enter Earth and has to be shown by Malchuskin. After some initial awkwardness, he manages to find his way to the fourth floor and is directed to the baths. When he finishes, he decides to explore some of the city, using an elevator system to travel along several of the floors then settles on finding Victoria. Failing to find her, he returns to Malchuskin who hardly notices his return.

Helward continues to work with Track Malchuskin for a week before Malchuskin tells him that in three days he would be given leave, then he should return to him for another mile's work. Helward asks Malchuskin how he was rationalising using both miles and days for his measurement of time. The work supervisor replies that despite the fact that the city was currently immobile, the city made an average of one mile every ten days, giving 36.5 miles in a year. Rather than work out time based on how far the city had moved, he uses the 'optimum' or the distance which the city should have moved. To maintain the optimum, the city is required to move a minimum of a tenth of a mile per day. He goes on to mention that currently the city was three miles behind the optimum, that since he had been working he had not known a time when the city had reached or exceeded the optimum, but that his father had once known the city to be ten miles behind optimum. Track Malchuskin adds that the optimum is not a fixed point but if the city got ahead of the optimum they would be able to relax and move slower.

The country the city moves through is ideal for the Track guild, mostly smooth without too many distinguishing features. Malchuskin tells Helward that the issues that bothered him the most was rough terrain. Ridges could be rounded, but forests and rocky ground caused trouble and the very worst was rivers, because though rivers solved the city's permanent shortage of water, a river had to be crossed. After finishing the buffers for the city, Helward asks Malchuskin where the labourers went each day after work. He is told that they come from a village not too far from Earth and though they might dislike the work, there was always pressure to work for Earth because Earth provided synthetic food for the labourers (and it is implied that their alternative is starvation). Malchuskin also adds that this wasn't all the local people did for Earth, but refuses to comment further on that though he does explain to Helward about the guild system, that the guilds preferred their apprentices to learn about the nature of their world through practise not theory.

The next morning Rafael returns with most of the men from the previous day as well as some replacements for the ones missing. They work to knock down and replace their temporary work shelter, moving their work site to the top of a ridge line ahead of the city. In the dark, Helward is challenged by one of the guards who spots him approaching, though they relax when they realise it his him, stopping only to ask how long he had been a guildsman for and what guild he is part of. When he answers the Future Surveyors they laugh and tell him they prefer a long life. Helward realises that the two guards were about his age and asks them if they had been raised in the creche like he had. They tell him they had though Helward does not recognise them at all to which they tell him that they had been 'down past.' They warn him about remaining out at night, that the tooks (their term for locals) might attack at any time as there are a great many that do not like the city.

Helward is given two days leave after another two days with Track Malchuskin who tells him that he needed Helward back immediately for they would be winching the city and he would have need of Helward's help. During his leave, Helward meets his wife, Victoria who decides to take leave to spend time with her husband. Victoria asks him, when they are alone, if Helward had been outside yet, causing him to wonder what he should tell her, it being in direct conflict with his oath. She tells him to relax, that she already knew that secret. Future Mann doesn't feel like talking and listens to Victoria discuss some of the city's problems, including the fact that not everyone is born in the city and more worryingly, for reasons they could not determine, the majority of births were male and is combined with a low birth rate. Their conversation is stilted and formal though with Helward showing little inclination to talk at all. Victoria asks him if he goes outside at all, showing him a viewing platform that provided views of the city's exterior, though the room is locked during most of the daylight hours. Mindful of his oath, Helward doesn't provide Victoria with much information. Helward comes to realise that Victoria is resentful of his life, jealous of the advantages he benefits from, benefits she is forbidden. When Helward suggests applying to a guild, Victoria tells him that the guilds only accept men, that women are too valuable to the city's population requirements to be endangered outside.

Helward asks Victoria if she wanted to marry him though she tells him that the point is moot. If it wasn't him, she would have to marry someone else. She invites Helward into her home, telling him that it was nothing she had personally against him but with the guild system and the entrenchment of their positions. Victoria manages to pry from Helward the fact that the first-order guilds demand secrecy when he accidentally mentions the oath he had been forced to swear. That night, Victoria comes to him and they sleep together. After the act, they talk together for a moment and Helward shares with Victoria the fact that his oath comes with a death penalty for breaching any of the terms. Though she manages to pry out a few answers from him about the nature of the sun, learning that the sun is not at all how they had been told.

The next day, Helward is shown about town by Victoria, discovering that the city was larger than he had thought and also that the layout of the city had been changed in the past from old plans that rested beside new ones. He also notes that some of the directions are not only in English but also French and other languages, including German, Russian, Italian and Chinese. Later, Future Mann heads back to work with Victoria's promise that she would look into the formalities involved in their marriage. He rejoins Track Malchuskin and gets to work, though the other guildsmen on the site are concerned. When he asks why, he is told that there had been some delay in setting up the winches meaning that by the time the city started winching at two miles a day, they would nevertheless end up falling behind the optimum which moved forwards two and a half miles each day. Worse, the Traction guild is concerned about the presence of hills to the north, though it is still faster to go straight up the hills than it is to go around them because of the optimum's northward movement. The tracks are not finished being lain by the evening, though Track Malchuskin points out that they would be ditching the locals who had been working for them as the Future guild had found a larger settlement to the north that was desperate for work (something that meant they'd accept the conditions and work harder than the prior group). Helward spots an argument between Malchuskin and the Traction guildsmen. Track Malchuskin tells him that they had suggested winching ahead of schedule while they continued to lay the tracks, though Malchuskin had refused. Helward points out that it sounded quite reasonable, especially given that it was theoretically possible, but Track Malchuskin pointed out that with the city under motion there would be incredibly large strain on the cables. A broken cable would cut a man in half before he even heard the bang.

As the Traction guild prepares to winch the city, Helward stays to watch, seeing armed militiamen with crossbows guarding the winches. He presumes that in the past the tooks must have attacked the winches and stopped the city's motion. He decides to walk over to get a closer look but is quickly waved off by the Traction guildsmen who tell him to stay well clear now that the cables are under strain. Returning back to the labour gang, where Malchuskin had told him to remain, he is met by Jamie Collings of the Barter Guild who is there to pay off the workers. Barter Collings asks Helward about the nature of the men, how they had performed, who their leader was. As Barter Collings talks to Rafael, Helward spots an antagonised crowd form around him and asks if he can help, to which the other man tells him to fetch four of the militiamen. The militia arrive, a group of ten, who wade into the crowd, bludgeoning them aside. Helward enters the melee to help Collings though ends up suffering badly for his trouble. He asks Collings what had caused the men to attack him and Barter Collings tells him that he had told them that some of their wives were staying with the city, that the city had bought them.

Later, Track Malchuskin tells him off for being instrumental in causing a brawl. He tells Helward that the city came through these poor regions and took what it needed for minimal pay because it didn't have to offer anything more than the bare minimum and soon they would be gone again, returning the region back to its poverty stricken level. A new group of workmen are taken from the village to the north of the city and trained up as Malchuskin tells Helward he is most concerned about the tracks that remained south of the city. He tells him that the city was quite far south of the optimum and that the southern tracks would be in danger of buckling if they remained in place. Helward is shocked at the condition of the tooks they receive, many of them malnourished, though Track Malchuskin tells him not to worry, that most of the tooks they hired started like this but a few days work and proper meals would see them fit and able again. The next day they start early, travelling south to inspect the tracks. There, Helward sees the buckling effect in the form of the tie bars having been bent out of shape and some of the sleepers had their wooden portions split. They recover as many of the rail segments as they can.

With his ten-day allotment to the Track guild finished, he is given two days leave in Earth once again where he meets Victoria. She tells him that she had asked why the city had moved, though simply been told that it was not her concern. Helward's question to her lets her realise that not once had she ever felt the city move through her life, prompting the suggestion that perhaps she had acclimatised to its movements from an early age. Helward shares with Victoria that the city moved on rails and that its goal is to reach the optimum ahead of it, though it cannot stop and must continue to chase the optimum. Helward admits that he is not clear on the reasoning but merely that it was the case. Victoria tells Helward that she is rather frustrated with the guild system, that the system appeared designed to withhold information though he tells her that from his talks with Track Malchuskin, there is the definite suggestion that the city does not move because it can but because it must. Helward cannot bring himself to promise Victoria to tell her what he discovers through his work in the guild causing a brief argument though in the end the two of them decide to continue with their marriage.

After the Track guild, Helward is assigned some time with the Militia guild though he first sees Future Clausewitz, asking why he couldn't join the Future guild as he was now. Clausewitz tells him that it is necessary at times for the city to recruit extra militia from the other guilds and so it is vital that those guildsmen be given some basic training with the militia. With that, Helward finds himself Crossbowman Second Class Mann. Helward detests working with the militia, something that undoubtedly made him the least popular of the recruits. By the end of three miles with the militia, he learns to defend himself and is then transferred to the Traction guild and is at once happier. He had not enjoyed working with the militia but finds his apprenticeship much more pleasant with the other guilds. Within the Traction guild he discovers that the city housed a large nuclear reactor that powered the whole of Earth. The primary function of the reactor used complex recycling devices to re-use any liquids. To Helward's horror he finds out that the synthetic food producer is linked to the sewage filtration devices. The Traction guild frequently discussed the merit of switching from the five winches they used normally to four or six. Four would allow more time for bearing servicing, though using six helped reduce the wear and tear on individual units. During his time with the Traction guild he asks about Gelman Jase, his friend from the creche who had signed up with them, though he confirms that his friend had joined the Traction guild he is told that Jase had left the city, headed down past and that his friend would be away for a while.

After the Traction guild, Helward is sent to the Barter guild where he meets Barter Collings once again. Barter Collings asks him how he fared with languages, though Helward admits he was not particularly gifted with them, something that amuses Barter Collings who tells him it was just as well he hadn't applied to join the Barter guild, languages are their trade. The Barter guild mostly hires men for the Track guild though sometimes would hire gangs of men for the Bridge-Builders too. They also dealt with 'transference' which was the city's term for hiring the women of the land to stay with the city for a while and perhaps even give birth to new citizens of the city. The women stay to give birth to a child and are then returned to their villages. If the birth is a girl, the city keeps the child, but if the birth is a boy the decision to keep the child is left with the mother. Helward's mother had come from outside the city.

He is taught later by Barter Collings how to ride, something that he tells Helward he would need for his work with the Futures guild. Barter Collings and Helward look into two settlements ahead though do not negotiate with them, the city's needs having been met for the time being. The city's route continues through a level area though would need a bridge to cross a large chasm and as a result, much of the city's available manpower from the guilds is apportioned to the Bridge-Builders who are even now designing and assembling a bridge for the city. The chasm is about sixty yards across and without much time to prepare, the Bridge-Builders decide on a suspended design. As Helward helps work on the bridge with the other men, he is told that the optimum had caught up with the bridge's location, though he fails to see anything special about the optimum. With the bridge being such high priority, his apprenticeship is momentarily suspended as he is drafted into the labour force for the bridge construction. It is during one of his leaves while working on the bridge that Victoria tells him that she is pregnant, something that delights him. The Bridge-Builders grow more worried with each day after the optimum's arrival for the same reasons that Track Malchuskin had been worried about the south rails. They fear that if the optimum goes too far north of them that there would be the buckling problem to contend with. Victoria's questions about the outside renew as Helward finds himself confused at the two worlds that seem so far apart, from the frantic building outside the city and the calm, unaware nature of Earth's interior.

When the bridge is officially declared as ready, the city is winched across slowly, in a worried silence as Bridge-Builders keep a close eye on the load meters. As Earth crosses, one of the winches snap, slicing through a line of militiamen, though no delay is made, the remaining four winches continuing to draw the city across the bridge. The city crosses without further issue, though by now Earth is four and a half miles behind the optimum.

The story resumes with Helward riding a horse, returning from a settlement to Earth. He looks forward to seeing his wife who is healthy and many miles pregnant. He is given more time off as a result and is thankful the terrain ahead remains unbroken ground for he is aware that another bridge would strip him of the time he had with his wife. He waits for his apprenticeship to end, the one guild he had not yet worked with being his own Future guild. Helward is to see Future Clausewitz that very day to discuss his progress thus far. During his work up north he occasionally had met his father, though his father seemed to harbour some discomfort with his son, something he had been hoping their shared work might alleviate. As the end of his time with Barter Collings draws near, he shares his two worries, namely that of the optimum and the oath. The former, Barter Collings tells him that he cannot help him with but assures Helward that he would understand in time why the optimum always moved north, the latter, Collings tells him not to concern himself with, that as far as Barter Collings saw it he had not violated his oath by telling Victoria what he had. Barter Collings goes on to tell Helward that he should bear in mind that the optimum is stationary, that he had been misinformed about the optimum moving, instead it is the ground that moves southwards from it.

Arriving at the city, Barter Collings says goodbye to Helward, telling him that Helward would be away for a very long time. Helward goes on to meet Future Clausewitz who tells him that he considered Helward's apprenticeship to be over barring one last task. He also tells him that he should not worry about his results from the militia, not everyone is suited for military life after all. Despite his wife's pregnancy, Helward is told he may be away for hundreds of miles of time. Future Clausewitz tells him that he must take the Took women whose time with the city was up, back to their villages. Clausewitz gives him no choice and tells him that it must be done, failure to accede to the guild's requirement would see his oath drawn into light and appropriate punishment delivered (that being death). Future Clausewitz also adds that the oath meant he had promised to act in the interests of the city's security first and foremost and that Helward's trip southwards would help him understand why Clausewitz had to be so inhuman, why he could not be present for the birth of his child. Clausewitz ends the talk with Helward, telling him that he had a mile (five days) to spend with his wife but would then need to head south where much would become clear as a result, though not all.

After spending the night with Victoria, who tells him he should go, to find out the truth of the matter, he meets Clausewitz at the Futures' room who provides him with gear and a map, though Clausewitz tells him that the map that one inch equates to one mile and that the map would prove unreliable. He tells Helward that distance and direction would become confusing, that he should follow the city's tracks both going down south and returning. With a distance of only forty two miles to cover, Helward cannot understand how he might miss the birth of his child, thinking that he should be able to complete the trip in only ten days. Clausewitz goes on to warn him that he should not expect to live off the land, that as he travelled further south of the city, away from the optimum, even the foods would change and would likely make him sick (something that had happened to Clausewitz). Before he leaves, he is visited by his father and at the end, Helward comments that his father looked so old, older than his years, to which Clausewitz tells him it is an occupational hazard.

Helward goes on to meet the three women he is set to escort back, one of them taking with them a boy (whom she hadn't wanted to leave with the city). He discovers that his early estimation of time it would take to complete the journey is overly optimistic. The women move slowly and complain to his annoyance. He doesn't understand their language much, but is amused by the fact that they share his complaints about the synthetic foods. He is later angered by delays from the women as they deliberately stall moving off for a little extra rest. As they travel further southwards, the girls warm a little to Helward, no longer glaring at him with silent resentfulness. Helward realises that there was no way he could possibly have maintained the rate of travel he had wanted to do in the first place thanks to the hot sun and hard ground. On the way south he meets a fellow apprentice coming the other way called Torrold Pelham. When Helward asks Torrold about what is down south, he is told that it could not be explained. Torrold expresses some surprise at how far the city had gone, though after talking with Helward comes to realise that he had been away for only nine miles, something that shocks him because Torrold is certain he had been away longer than that. When Pelham leaves, he leaves telling Helward cryptically that if he decides he wants to 'spend some time' with the women, he is advised to do so before it is too late. The baby is ill as they travel further south, but the event brings the group closer together after Helward shows his concern for the child. That day though, the women's shoes are almost entirely worn through.

Later, the women are ill, the synthetic food giving them severe stomach upset. Helward can determine nothing wrong with the food though and when he eats it, it fails to upset his stomach. The women are able to make do with apples found along the way though, recovering slowly. Later that day, Helward reaches the chasm the city had crossed earlier and finds himself confused. The chasm appears only ten yards across where the city had crossed, though Helward distinctly remembers the city having to cross sixty yards. He compares measurements of the rail and suspension towers, finding all the distances to have warped. He is both confused and worried as he returns to the camp. There, the girls appear healthy, though they tell him the baby had been ill again. Helward comes to think that perhaps Clausewitz is right. That he would find the local foods dangerous for his constitution because he was of the city, but so too would the women find the city food dangerous because they were not of the city. The baby that one of the women had was of the city and testing this idea, he asks the mother for permission to feed the child synthetic foods, something that the baby takes to. As they continue southwards, one of the girls, Lucia sleeps with him causing some jealousy between her and another woman, Caterina. When he decides to negotiate with one of the local settlements for food for the women, he takes with him Rosario (the mother of the baby) to avoid giving a show of favouritism to the other women. As they journey further south, Helward notices another change occurring. The women with him begin to appear shorter and squatter than he recalled and it becomes apparent that as they travel further southwards the women continue to grow shorter and squatter, ruining the city clothes they had been issued with. The land appears to become 'shorter', landmarks passing faster, though each marked section of the city's rail is vastly wide. By this stage, the women are no taller than three feet and grossly distorted, though the baby isn't, something that seems to horrify Rosario. Clearly, the baby and Helward, being of the city are unaffected by the phenomenon he is observing. A little later he finds himself discovering a strange pull on him from the south, although the land appears to be flat towards the south. Likewise, when he tries to head north he feels as though he is walking uphill despite the ground being flat.

As they draw closer to their destination the women share their fears with Helward, becoming reluctant to return, worried their husbands might kill them for their infidelity within the city. By this stage the women are no more than twelve inches high and about five feet broad. He goes further south, telling the women to wait only to find himself pulled so hard southwards that it negated gravity itself. He finds himself thrown against a mountain range that even as he watches begins to spread towards the east and west, shrinking in height until it is flat. Fortunately, he makes use of a grappling hook within his pack to secure himself. The world flattens in the south, almost entirely two dimensional as Helward is forced to lie low on the ground to continue breathing. He watches the sun set, realising that the sun was an echo of their world, a broad flat disk with two pillars of light at its north and south poles.

With great difficulty he crawls northwards, finding the pull of the south diminishing as he continues north until once more he can crawl and then finally stand. He puts some distance between him and the south, not keen on being drawn back into that incredibly strong field of gravity towards the south. However, the event has taught him that the guilds were right to keep the city moving, that the city had to move for to stop moving was to let the city get drawn south and flattened into a smudge that ran east to west. Though Helward does not understand the reasons behind the world they live on, he fully accepts what the guilds had been advocating. Disturbed by the realisation that he could feel the pressure from the south on him, he continues northwards. After a night's sleep, he looks back south only to see the mountain range returned. Walking back south sees them shrink and become lateral stains while walking northwards sees the mountains regain their height. He continues onwards, shocked when he reaches the chasm once more, this time the chasm is only five or six yards across.

The following night sees Helward returned to terrain that appears more normal. He continues north, unsure of the fate of the baby that had travelled with him and as he continues northwards he is struck by the same impression that Torrold had had, believing that somehow the city must have made better speed than he had anticipated and perhaps even crossed the optimum, something Helward hopes means that the city could enter a region where the land didn't move under it and perhaps even stop its frantic journey north. He is brought aid from an apprentice travelling down past, someone he recalled from the creche called Li-Chen. He realises the similarities between the meeting with Li-Chen and his with Torrold. He gives Li-Chen the same answers that Torrold had given him, and departs, learning that the city remained five miles ahead of him. He takes from Li-Chen one packet of food, warning him that he would need the rest of his food and repeats the advice Torrold had given him about the women. Continuing north, Helward still fails to catch sight of the city, something that aggravates him. In the falling night he is attacked by a guildsman who turns out to be Gelman Jase, neither of them immediately recognising the other. Jase tells him that things had changed in the city, that normally the city sent back apprentices every mile or so, but the tooks had caught on and were killing apprentices and taking their uniforms. Jase himself, had been attacked on his way back. The two of them travel together, making their way towards the city. As they walk they discuss the anomaly they had observed to the south, neither of them able to make sense of it. Jase's experience had been different to Helwards, his journey south resulting in the deaths of the women with him and an attack on him from a band of tooks. He'd been caught in the same zone as Helward had, where the land had mysteriously flattened out and the suction from the south threatened to pull him away. Jase had got lost on the way back north and so was a little more aware of the surrounding area than Helward was. He shares with Helward that he had seen a city to the west, a city unlike Earth. This city was owned by the tooks and lies flat on the Earth, immobile. Most of the city seemed abandoned though the entire city was gigantic, far larger than Earth. Jase warns Helward that as time went on they might find themselves attacked by the tooks from the city, once they had become organised enough, Earth is hated.

They are both shocked when they catch sight of the city, spotting a blackened, misshapen patch on the rear section of Earth. They are stopped by a line of militia and have their identities checked. The city had been attacked twice by the tooks, the last resulting in the deaths of twenty three militiamen while bodies within the city were still being counted. The creche had been razed, the children within having died in the attack. Helward's father had died from angina shortly after Helward left the city. His apprenticeship is over, Victoria had given birth to a boy who had died in the creche. He learns that his wife had signed papers pronouncing their marriage over and taken up with another man, pregnant once more. Finally, Helward discovers that in the midst of his world having been turned upside down, Earth had moved a total of seventy-three miles and was eight miles behind the optimum. Subjectively he had been away for thirty days (three miles), but had in fact been away for two years. However, an attack is due again and he is given little time to brood on this.

Of concern to Helward is the fact that the tooks from the city have rifles, about one hundred and fifty armed men while the city had only its crossbows and twelve rifles taken from the bodies left behind, though the ammunition the city had looted had been expended in the previous attack. The main advantage the city has is its appreciation of information gathering. In the growing darkness, three ranks of crossbowmen stand ready around the city, while Helward is part of the counter-attack force. Earth is crossing a bridge at the time of the attack as the tooks begin to open fire in the darkness towards the city, a target hard to miss for both its size and the noise of the winches winding. Arc-lights set up upon the city are ignited, blinding the attacking tooks as the three rows of crossbowmen open fire before dowsing the lights. They shift position and repeat the procedure, catching the tooks out once again. With the city on the bridge there comes a shout and the tooks charge towards Earth. From his position, he hears and spots an explosion and then another, the first striking the city, the second the bridge itself. As the tooks begin to take care, aiming at arc lights the reserve force with Helward attack, throwing them into confusion once again before the tooks withdraw. The city manages to cross the bridge, though the superstructure remains alight as it reaches the other bank, fought by men within the city. However, the tracks and bridge remain on fire.

The tally of lives for the city is relatively minor, fortunate overall, but Earth itself had suffered some damage including the loss of one of its great wheels with no option but to discard it. No replacement can be made. The bridge had collapsed resulting in the loss of several hundred yards of rails. After two days salvaging work, Helward is requested to meet with Future Clausewitz. As he heads through the city he is disturbed by the change in atmosphere, noting how those working outside seemed caught between despair and desperation. Gone is talk of reaching or chasing the optimum, all minds focused instead on the crisis with the tooks and Earth cannot hire took labour anymore, forced to use what little manpower it has available to see it through the crisis. Instead of meeting Clausewitz he is met by Future Denton who tells him that Helward is set to accompany him. Denton is a man who keeps to himself though he shares their assigned duty, namely to map and survey the areas ahead of the city to ensure that the city might continue to make its way northwards. The Futures guild would normally send teams on differing routes and then return to share these mapped routes out with the council of Navigators (who would then determine which path to follow).

As Helward works with Denton, he comes to realise that the education he had received in the creche was always directly relevant to the work that the guilds required. The history lessons he received about Earth (the planet) teach him the similarities between the city and the world they had left and helped prepare the way for those who would seek to become Barter guildsmen. Helward had not been given any understanding through his education as to how Earth (city) had arrived on this world. Helward picks up the Futures trade quickly, working well with Future Denton. Before the work is finished and they head back towards the city, Helward decides to record the sunset and examining the stored image is reminded of something. It is as they are heading back towards the city, in no rush (because there is no 'hurry up future'), that he recalls where he had seen an image like that. He recalls being taught theoretical mathematics and the shape of a hyperbola. He muses that perhaps those lessons had been included to teach the nature of their own world in a subtle manner. After thirty days, Helward grows alarmed that they had not yet seen the city, believing that the city should have made much more progress. Future Denton explains to him that north of the optimum time was subjectively sped up, an opposite to the effect that occurred down past. Denton explains that even if the city were to move north of the optimum the city could not stop, it would need to continue moving, though it could do so at a slower pace. The problem lies in the fact that north of the optimum time moves subjectively faster, but the concept of time on Earth (city) is derived as a mile equalling ten days worth of motion, so being north of the optimum would result in lost motion (due to faster days). He goes on to say that the city's founder, Destaine, had suggested that the world was infinite, stretching millions and millions of miles to the south. The optimum is named so because the optimum is the point at which Earth (planet) conditions can be found, where subjectively one day equates to twenty four hours. When they return to Earth, Denton suggests that Helward read the Destaine Directive, a document mentioned in his oath to the guilds. He is given three days leave by Clausewitz before being detailed back to the Tracks guild for work.

During his leave, he attempts to meet Victoria, though is told from her work colleagues that she is unavailable. Some time later he meets another member of his guild, Future Blayne when he enters the Futures' room, looking for a copy of Destaine's directive. As they talk, Blayne tells him that he should not have filmed the sunset, tape was considered a rare resource, however, Blayne goes on to share with him the nature of their world which in theory is infinitely large due to the hyperbola effect. To the north, the land stretches almost infinitely vertical and to the south, the land stretches almost infinitely horizontal. He tells him that though the guilds could not explain it, the world spun at a near infinite speed at both infinite points, explaining the force Helward had experienced down south. The universe they are in is completely at odds with that of planet Earth's, as in theory the sun too was infinitely large, yet occupied a finite space.

Blayne continues, telling Helward that Destaine had theorised their world was stationary at the north pole and that the apparent spin (that distorted the land) at the equator to the south was caused by the infinite speed of rotation. Destaine also believed that the 'southern hemisphere' a borrowed word to explain land behind the equator would suffer the reverse, moving towards the south pole and slowing down until stationary. Though it is impossible to rationalise, Destaine believed that the north and south poles are identical and that any ground that reaches the south appears immediately at the north. Effectively, Destaine believes their world is a solid hyperbola, that all limits on their world are infinite in value. After Blayne leaves, Helward reads through the Destaine directive, learning that Destaine had founded the guild system to ensure that the city continued its run towards the north, hoping that they would be rescued by Earth one day. The city's maxim would be survival at any cost. The tracks continue to be set in good time and the city's inhabitants are pleased by the fact that they were able to move the city away from the river without further issue. As a guildsman, Helward finds out that he is entitled to sit in on the sessions of the Council of Navigators (though not as an active participant). During the session, it is decided by a majority of one not to reintroduce the 'closed city' arrangement for the time being and that the city would be switched to continuous running on less winches and shorter distances (due to the loss of valuable rails) but through this method the city hopes to catch up with the optimum within twenty to twenty five miles. From the session, Helward is left with the realisation that the Council of Navigators were well appraised of the situation both within and without the city (unlike the general stereotype of a bunch of stuffy-headed people out of touch of reality).

Future Mann is detailed to a survey mission in the north. When asked if he would prefer to go alone or with another Future guildsman he decides to ask if he can have Blayne accompany him (which is granted). The night before he leaves he meets Victoria, catching her for a moment and talking with her. They share a moment of grief over their child David but Helward does not wish to tell Victoria about the exact reason his journey south had taken so long. However, the two have long gone separate ways. Victoria remains adamant that the guild system should be removed entirely and the city stopped, while Helward cannot bring himself to accept either of those propositions now that he understood the nature of their world. Over time the city returns to its placid state, the new system of winching being deployed with ease. To much relief the new system is faster and more efficient allowing the city to make detours from true north and still catch up to the optimum. Within a short amount of time the city catches up with the optimum, helped by the downward gradient of the land as they continue onwards. However, as the city re-introduces the Barter guild's work the division in the city grows and a group called the 'Terminators' begins to acquire public support. After they storm one of the public sessions of the Council of Navigators in an attempt to seize the chair, the sessions are turned into private councils once more, serving to bolster public support for the Terminators. The guilds respond with a re-education programme, adopting a hyperbola as the motif of the city but in spite of the resistance offered by the Terminators, the city continues ever northwards. Helward's work is mostly future surveys and as time goes on he begins to appreciate the problems with working in the north as he notes that he is ageing faster than those within the city. He settles with a transferred women called Dorita and applies to change to the Traction guild as a result of her pregnancy and also a result of the sensation that time was slipping by. When Dorita is returned, Helward rejoins the Futures guild, feeling too much of a misfit within the city to do anything else. He takes up drawing as a hobby as he continues his work north of the city.

The story switches over to the perspective of Elizabeth Khan who spots one day a deal being struck between the local villagers and two caped men from elsewhere. She watches the men depart and asks Luiz what they had wanted. He tells her that they had desired their labour in exchange for food and other supplies. Elizabeth follows after the second of the two men, following him to a river where she watches him use a camera to film it. When she tries to approach she startles him and freezes when she spots him with a rifle. He questions her in terrible Spanish but she surprises him by telling him she can speak English after she overhears him muttering in English. They talk and it is revealed that this man is Helward who tells her he comes from Earth, a city nearby. Helward refuses to tell her more than that though but before departing asks if he can sketch her. As Elizabeth looks over his completed sketch she is thrown by the strange perspective he seems to have, having drawn her too tall and skinny. Looking through his sketchbook though she spots other strange issues with his drawings. Helward is clearly very skilled but only his self-portraits and drawings of his horse appear to be correctly in proportion, his landscapes feature a sense of wrongness about their shape. She asks what the strange four-pointed object in one of his drawings is, only to be told it is the sun.

Back at the village, Elizabeth finds she has no more appetite for work. She tells Luiz to try to find out what the men had wanted and tells him that if they should come again, to stall them and try to find out where they were from. She heads back to her headquarters, arriving by evening where she meets a man named Tony, someone who fancied her. She asks Tony if he had heard of a settlement to the south called Earth and is told that he had not heard of one, something that is confirmed by the maps she reads, all of them agreeing that there are no large settlements in the south for sixty miles. She finds even the paper puzzling, discovering that the paper had been perforated and was signed IBM Multifold™. 

The next day, Elizabeth puts through another request for a doctor to the village she was working as a nurse for before she returns. Luiz tells her that the two strange men had not returned and after some half-hearted work she departs on horseback hoping to find Helward who intrigues her. She finds Helward by the same river they had met before and they settle down to talk. As they talk, Helward is alarmed to discover that Elizabeth is not from the settlement he had visited. Helward asks her where she is from to which she tells him England. Helward grows even more agitated on discovering this, asking if she was from planet Earth. Thoroughly confused, Elizabeth confirms this which seems to ignite Helward as he exclaims that they had found them at last. He doesn't understand how she cannot know what Earth city is, nor can he understand how she fails to understand that Earth city is differentiated from Earth planet. She is also confused by his reference of Earth city being only twenty five miles away today. When Helward explains that the city had survived for two hundred years waiting in hope for rescue from Earth he is confronted by more confusion. Elizabeth tells him that he is on Earth. Angrily, Helward takes Elizabeth and points at the sun, demanding to know what she sees, and Elizabeth tells him she sees the sun, causing Helward to stab a finger at his drawings insisting that this was the sun. She flees from him, returning to the village. 

She returns to the village late that evening and learns from Luiz that the villagers had made a deal with the men from Earth and would be giving them their women. A show of hands reveals the men are happy to take up the deal though none of the women are vote. In the night, Elizabeth ponders the questions that Helward raised. There is the issue with the sun, something that doesn't make sense to her, and another issue with the computer paper. Elizabeth is aware that there is only one computer within one thousand miles of her current location and that computer was neither made by IBM nor produced paper. Certainly no IBM machines had been created since the Crash. She makes a swift decision and visits Maria, borrowing her clothes. Wearing her disguise she takes the place of one of the women promised to the city. She is taken to the city, at first not understanding what it was and aware that the term 'city' was perhaps unfair as the structure was no more than seven storeys high and more closely resembled a pre-Crash office block. Within the city Elizabeth is passed a clean bill of health and taught rudimentary English (as she was pretending to be one of the local girls). She explores the city and comes across a copy of Destaine's Directive, reading it allows her to understand the mindset that Helward and others of the city had, but it is founded on one major flaw. Elizabeth looks at the flaw, a huge ball of light that is the sun.

Later, Elizabeth finds Helward within the city and talks to him. They apologise to each other over their last meeting but neither of them are able to convince the other of the reality of their situation. Helward insists that the sun and world he had experienced is the reality, that Elizabeth is mistaken (and he had experienced the centrifugal force in the south) while Elizabeth maintains that they are still on Earth and had never left it. Helward adds that after she had left the other day he had discovered some information that only the Navigators were privy to. Something that could drastically alter the city's situation. On a trip north to witness the issue that troubled Helward she talks with Helward's friend, Blayne, realising that they are all sincere in their understanding of the world, but she cannot think of a way to break their perception. They take her to a large body of water and begin surveying the area. Neither of them had seen the bank on the other side nor could they find a shorter area to cross. They ask Elizabeth what she made of the river, only to be told it was not a river. Neither of the men understand Elizabeth entirely nor take any effort to learn from her, instead continuing their work. Unable to convince them of the fact that they are in Portugal, she mounts her horse and heads away from the Atlantic. 

Helward and Bridge-Builder Lerouex stand together, watching the ruins of their most recent bridge smash against the surf. Lerouex tells Helward that they simpy need more timber and prepares to design another bridge. He tells Helward that they had a great amount of subjective time to build a bridge and that he is untroubled by the fact that he could not see the other bank. North of optimum dimensions are shifted/stretched linearly (north and south) and if necessary the city could wait south of the optimum to allow the distance to be subjectively closed. Helward is not so easily convinced, but is interested to hear that both he and Lerouex had been suggested as Navigator candidates. Lerouex cannot face the other idea currently bandied about the city, namely the construction of a ship. 

Later, Lerouex tells Helward that they had been suggested as Navigators as part of a new policy to bring active guildsmen into the policy making council. The two of them discuss Victoria for a brief moment who is now a main leader of the Terminators' movement. In this time there have been three failed bridge building attempts at the Atlantic shore due to storms and even Lerouex admits to Helward that perhaps a ship is the only option, that the Bridge-Builders had clearly failed. Helward rejects his invitation to the navigators when they tell him that the Council had decided to reach a compromise with the Terminators and build a ship to cross the 'river' and once across they would rebuild the city. When Helward goes to an open meeting of the Terminators with Gelman Jase he is shocked to see Victoria's father supporting their idea of stopping, clearly broken by his failures with the bridge, but he grows alarmed when he spots Elizabeth Khan standing behind him. He tries to push through the crowd, desperate to prevent her from speaking but to no avail. Elizabeth explains she is from England, on Earth and that she had returned from England with information that affected the city. She tells the assembled crowd about the truth behind the city's nuclear reactor, explaining that Francis Destaine had been a particle physicist who had lived in Britain. Destaine had developed a technique to provide near limitless electrical energy without any apparent fuel though his work had been discredited by scientists until the Crash occurred, when nations all over the world collapsed when fossil fuels ran out. Elizabeth continues, telling them that Destaine's original concept was both crude and dangerous unlike the more modern developments that utilised the same technology. Destaine had created a generator that created an artificial field of energy which when combined with another field could provide limitless electricty. His detractors had pointed out that it required far more energy to power the generators than was received. However, Destaine had found a natural window for the generators' fields which followed a circle around the globe and had set out to Guan Dong province in China to begin his research. He was never heard from again. She tells the crowd that Destaine had ignored the warnings of side-effects, of permanent damage to perception and genetic issues. Helward is disheartened by the way the people of Earth city listen to her message. Helward cannot believe Elizabeth because he had been down past. He had experienced the force in the south, had seen a child grow ill from the distorted foods, seen city made clothes fail to fit native women as they distorted. The story ends with Helward at the beach of the bridge building site, treading water as he watches the four-pointed sun sink below the horizon, watched by Elizabeth Khan.

Food for thought:

Naturally, there is one immediate problem with the book's premise. The concept of a world that has an infinite plane in two perpendicular directions is topographically impossible (the two planes would intersect each other after all as they rotate into infinity). However, that said, the concept and twist in this book is lovely. It is a complete reversal of the world we know, a world where the struggle to survive is paramount to all other things. 

One of the major themes in the book is the power of perception over our reality. We have no real way of knowing if what we perceive is actually 'real' in a factual sense, only that what we understand of the world can be verified by what we perceive. In fact, in our daily lives we take alot of things for granted which in theory are impossible, things which are verified by our perception but not by our scientific knowledge. The world around us is very different from what we perceive without the help of specialised equipment. Quantum physics proves that things exist because we detect it existing, even if we can't necessarily explain what they really appear as. For example, the electron is characterised as a physical sphere of negative charge within an atom, and there are experiments that can prove its nature as a particle. However, there are also experiments that prove the electron is not a particle but instead a wave. Quantum physics accepts that the electron displays the characteristics of a particle and a wave (despite the mutual contradictions) at the same time. It is comforting to think of electrons as a particle as this makes it easier to imagine the atom and we're all made of atoms. But even the concept of an atom is at odds with the day to day reality we observe. Atoms are proven to be 99.99% (recurring) emptiness. Given that we are made entirely of atoms then in theory we too are 99.99% emptiness and yet we perceive and interact with physical objects all the time. Likewise in Inverted World, while we accept Elizabeth Khan's perception as 'truth' (as we live in her perception of reality) we cannot necessarily say that Helward's perception of the reality around him is wrong. Reality and its perception is entirely subjective and quantum physics points out that we change the world by observing it. 

Likewise with one final example of the complexity of perception, there is no guarantee that any of use experience the same reality at all. When I look at the sky I can say 'the sky is blue.' You may be inclined to agree with me if you were to stand beside me. However, you and I could not prove that the colour we saw in the sky was the same, only that we had a mutually agreed term for what we perceived as 'blue.' As a quote, I would leave you with:
'All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.' - Friedrich Nietzsche
There are no truths, only agreed upon interpretations that are endorsed by the majority.

The book is also a fantastic celebration of human determination. The power to survive and prosper despite the odds arraigned against us is an uplifting tale. The world of the ironically named Helward Mann is grim, founded upon a need to survive at any cost and sustained by a weak hope and yet despite this, their civilisation has existed, triumphed against the odds for two hundred years. Two hundred years of stubbornness and refusal to simply give in. In a way, it is an analogy for our own personal lives, of our own personal struggles against the world around us for our own measures of survival. 
The alternative to progress is death.

Book Review: The Killables by Gemma Malley - 4thwallfly

Welcome to the Fly on the 4th Wall. Today's book review is set in a dystopian future, a world where Order (with a capital O) has prevailed over the chaos that had preceded it, but at a terrible cost.
We're looking at:
The Killables by Gemma Malley

Cover art copyright of Jonathan Minster

'EVERYONE ACCEPTED THAT PEOPLE WERE DIFFERENT PHYSICALLY.
BUT INSIDE?
INSIDE, THEY WERE DIFFERENT TOO. YOU JUST HAD TO KNOW HOW TO TELL, WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of evil emerging, they are labelled a K... But no one knows quite that that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again...' The Killables, Gemma Malley [2012]

The Killables is a brave new glance at the conceptual ideas raised by Aldous Huxley's novel 'Brave New World' that shares some similarities to George Orwell's '1984.' This is the story of Evie, citizen of the City. The City is the only remaining bastion of civilisation in a world ravaged by the scars of a long-past disaster. The City protects its inhabitants from the disorder beyond its walls, provided that its citizens continue to repress the evil amongst them. They have all undergone surgery to remove the evil parts of their brains at birth. A City's citizen can easily identify one another thanks to the identical scar they bear on their heads as a result. But Evie is different. She has nightmares. She isn't happy with her lot in life and she's all too aware that she's deviant. She isn't the ideal the City demands. Most importantly... she's not in love with the man she's promised to.

The Killables is set in a post apocalyptic future where most of the world is recovering from the wars that had raged across the planet. However, the City stands as a bastion of peace and calm in a world of survivors. It does so by maintaining a controlling System that grades the citizens within the City, rating them in a series of ranks that denote a citizen's potential for evil (i.e. an "A" is considered the safest and most selfless type of citizen while a K is someone to be shunned for their evil). Though Evie comes to realise there is more to the City than there appears at first glance. The majority of the book is told from Evie's point of view with occasional switches.

The Killables is part of a series called the same name and will continue with 'The Disappearances.'


Click below for the full synopsis (click to open/close):

The beginning of the novel is preceded by a short excerpt from wikipedia that discusses the influence that the left amygdala of the brain has upon the human psyche, before opening with a dream sequence. A little girl is being coaxed along by a man who is taking her somewhere. She's being carried by him, and finally the man announces that they had arrived in a place that was warm and bright. Evie then wakes up, it is a dream that has been haunting her. She jumps out of bed to repeat a calming mantra. Her sheets are soaked with sweat, this and the dream tell her that she is impure, she is deviant to the City, a shameful fact for her. She is confronted by her mother, who informs her that she had shouted in her sleep again, something that angers her mother because it was a sign that Evie wasn't pure. Evie longs to be able to settle in to the restrictive rules placed upon her. She knows that beyond the City is nothing but chaos and her enjoyment of the peace within the City relied entirely on obedience to the established rules. It is established that the City is in fact a portion of what used to be London. Evie works in Unit 3 within the City. Unit 3 performs label-changing which involves changing the designated labels of citizens to reflect their status. As Evie makes her way to the building, ever mindful that loitering was bad, something that would promote evil, she meets Lucas, the man she is promised to marry and his brother Raffy. They exchange greetings before heading inside.

The City's workplaces are always segregated by gender, from the age of eight, boys and girls are separated, expected to be educated and work separately. Marriages such as the one between Lucas and Evie are arranged by their parents. Evie feels ashamed that she isn't happy at the idea of marrying Lucas, something that she feels continues to highlight her status as a deviant amongst the City's citizenry. On entering her workplace she says hello to Christine, a colleague though not truly a friend. Not truly a friend because the City does not encourage friendship. Friendships create loyalties that might interfere with the City's priorities. Evie's work as a label-changer is considered quite a success as working for the government requires numerous interviews and tests. She, herself, is a B (not an A but certainly a good label). An A is a citizen of high moral standing and selflessness while a C is someone who is easily misled though at heart a good person. Cs in the City have to be vigilant as they are in danger of slipping into evil behaviour. The majority of the citizens in the City are Cs and it was Cs who had been tricked by their leaders during the Horrors. However, below C is the D label. Ds are dangerous, deviant. Whenever the System processed a D label it was an unbearable shame for those who receive it, often resulting in a shunning of that very citizen.

Evie leaves work late, something that was usual for her. After all, Evie has taken to heart the Great Leader's Sentiments (a philosophical work expounding on the duties and model behaviours of the good citizen). Busy minds are happy minds. Productive individuals mean a happy society. To Evie's shock, their Brother is waiting with her father and mother at her home. The Brother is the Great Leader's chosen representative for the Great Leader is old and rarely seen these days. The Brother works in his stead, ensuring that the evil that had graced the land before never came to enter the City. He has come to talk to Evie about her dreams, the dreams that have been troubling her. He tells her that he and the Great Leader have been discussing the meaning of her dreams and have determined its true meaning. She is not to fear the figure she thought was the devil. This figure represented the City, taking her from away from evil and bringing her to a good, peaceful existence. She is not the lost soul she believes herself to be. A lost soul within the City though receives a second New Baptism, this being the euphemism for the surgery undertaken to remove the portions of a person's brain responsible for evil. Evie thanks the Brother and repeats what appears to be a prayer for the City to watch over her and the System to reward and punish as necessary. The Brother goes on to mention that the System was more interested in reprimanding Mr. Bridges though, a man who has received a label change to D. He urges them to stay away from him lest he infect the rest of their community. Evie's mother promises to cease selling her wares to the newly labelled Mr. Bridges. However, once the Brother has left the household Evie's mother returns to scald her, berating her child over her various deficiencies, from her failure to attend to the dishes to her choice of a job with the government and even her general disposition.

That night, while her mother and father sleep, she sneaks out of their house and makes her way to a hollowed tree in the middle of the green (here being the British term for an open grass area). Once there she meets with Raffy, who is delighted to see her, having been worried that she might not have turned up that night. Should the System ever become aware of her and Raffy's dalliances they would be marked as Ds, their futures torn asunder.

The next chapter gives some exposition about the setting's history. The Great Leader had been a doctor originally, a brain specialist. He had identified that the amygdala was bigger in the brains of psychopaths and criminals. Therefore, he had taken the logical leap that the amydala was the reason behind mankind's evil and that this portion of the brain had a potential to grow. It is believed that it was this innate evil within mankind that led to the Horrors. Evie, who grew up in the City, doesn't understand how the Great Leader's discovery didn't change the world there and then, that it took the Horrors for the City to develop. The Great Leader's idea had in fact been mocked and derided by the international community prior to the Horrors. Before the Horrors, the Great Leader's work ensured that he was struck off the medical registers but after the Horrors, the Great Leader founded the City and ensured that every citizen of the City was treated to the very same New Baptism by having their amygdala removed. Within the City, Ds are watched vigilantly because a D might be a sign of the amygdala growing back. The label a citizen received as a result of a regrown amygdala was K. Ks are taken away immediately for reconditioning at the hospital in the City and are never allowed back amongst the citizens again. If the evil came back once, it would do so again. This is why Raffy was treated with suspicion as his father had been a K. Evie had been four years old when she was saw Raffy's father taken away. Both the children, Lucas and Raffy had changed, but where Lucas had become a model citizen of the City, Raffy had become disobedient and sullen. Evie had been forbidden to spend time with Raffy, but when she eventually ended up talking to him again, she discovered that it had been Lucas who had reported his father to the System.

The next day, Evie heads off to work and while there, chats with Christine who announces that her parents had arranged a marriage for her. She is delighted that his man is an A like Lucas. Evie looks enthusiastic for Christine, agreeing with her when she states that As were supposed to be heartless people, they should be the very best of husbands to have. As they work, suddenly the computers power off, leaving the staff within utterly confused. A manager arrives and tells them this is part of a drill and that they should assemble outside immediately, resulting in an orderly exodus of the building. By the time she gets outside, rumours are abound that Raffy was involved, that he had found a glitch within the network. As Evie forms up with the rest of the Unit, the same manager tells them that the System was rebooting shortly. Christine shares with Evie that she couldn't believe that Raphael (Raffy) was a B, that he had no doubt caused the glitch rather than found it. Evie tries to defend him, but Christine adds that Raffy was a K waiting to happen. Lucas arrives as everyone is being sent back inside with the warning not to speak about the drill that had just occurred. Lucas mentions that Raffy would be fine after Evie asked after him, going on to mention that the System would keep a closer eye on him. Evie becomes aware that Raffy is watching them as Lucas tells her he would ask her father for permission to come to his house for dinner. Giving Evie a kiss, Lucas leaves.

The next chapter cuts to the Brother as he surveys the city from his room. He clearly is experiencing a very different lifestyle to the puritan-esque citizens of the City. He had been a religious preacher once, though after the Horrors he decided to team up with the Great Leader and help found the City. The Great Leader had been living in what was once Manchester, though then he was Mr. Fisher, formerly Dr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher had decided he did not want to get involved, the time for his work to change the world was over, but the Brother had managed to convince him. Through their combined efforts, the City arose like a phoenix out of the ashes of the Horrors. The Brother's thoughts are interrupted by Lucas' arrival whom he greets warmly before asking about Raffy. Lucas informs the Brother that Raffy was still clinging to his fantasy that the glitch had connected to an outside system. Lucas asks the Brother to give him a week to deal with the issue, that Raffy was simply concocting wild stories to avoid any punishment. Once Lucas departs, the Brother returns to napping on a couch 'for meditation purposes.'

Evie, in a fit of worry over the System now that Raffy is being watched more closely, decides not to visit Raffy that night. She decides it was time she gave up on every little evil in her life and focus on remaining good. The next day is the day of the Gathering where the citizens of the City meet for a weekly communion (not in the Christian sense though). Within the City's Meeting Hall the various peoples gather according to their labels, with As sitting at the front, then Bs and so on. The book has something of a mistake around here because Evie spots Raffy labelled as a C (as if that were the norm, not the B Christine had mentioned earlier). Families with mixed labels congregated together, separate of the broad groups of labels. The Brother arrives and begins to lead the congregation in a series of prayers for their Great Leader, followed immediately by a form of meditation. During the meditation, Raffy starts whispering to Evie, asking her why she had not come last night to meet him. Evie tells him she can never meet with him again, she's to be married to Lucas, something that earns Raffy's anger. As the sermon continues, led by the Brother, the cult-like nature of the City's belief in the System comes to the fore. At the end of the Gathering, Raffy accosts Evie and begs her to reconsider, quietly telling her that he can't bear to be without her. However, Evie tells him that what they had is over, must be over.

Later that night, in the midst of being tortured by her thoughts on having to turn her back on Raffy, Evie is interrupted by a knock on her window. Raffy is waiting outside her window, looking so sad to Evie that she lets him in. He begs Evie to reconsider, telling her that she is making a mistake, that Lucas didn't deserve her, he was like a machine. Evie replies that perhaps that is what they need to be, for their own good, she doesn't want to become a D, let alone a K. Raffy grows angered, telling her about the way Lucas had destroyed all of their father's items because it was 'evil.' Raffy mentions his father was not an evil person, but Evie quotes that the System is always right, that maybe Raffy's father hadn't meant to be evil but had ended up that way. Raffy insists that the System must have been wrong, how else could his father have gone from A to K in a single leap? Raffy laments that he thought Evie would have understood, that she was different. Evie still loves Raffy and says as much.
Raffy goes on to explain that he had found a glitch that had been sending information to an outside System, something neither of them had heard of before, prompting Raffy to suggest that they run away from the City and live together, outside of their home. But Evie is not to be convinced so easily, telling Raffy that had been a child's dream, and that it was time they grew up and stopped trying to be evil.

As they talk, they suddenly hear a noise outside and find Lucas standing below their house, waiting. He calls up to Evie, asking her to tell Raffy to come down to him. Raffy calms her down and tells her that he would explain to Lucas, that it was all his fault. However, Evie tells Raffy that Lucas knew, he had seen it all. Raffy leaves with Lucas who steers Raffy away from Evie's home. The next day, Evie fails to see Raffy throughout the entire day and on her way back from work, she freezes when she sees men behind her, shouting accusations of deviancy. Instead of attacking her though, they pass her and move onto their intended target, who Evie realises belated is Mr. Bridges. The men surround him, angered at his very presence within their City, one of the men Evie spots (Mr. Adams) had once been a D himself, like Mr. Bridges is now. Terrified, Evie crosses the road and rushes to a bakery to try to distance herself from the violence that was unleashed upon Mr. Bridges. Attacks such as these were an accepted part of life, the police would turn their heads at such actions and even the Brother had been known to say that sometimes evil had to be met on its own terms. Even the baker tells Evie that it just goes to show how little you could trust people, the baker herself unaffected by the sight.

As the men start to set about Mr. Bridges with sticks they are stopped by Lucas who demands to know if the Great Leader had authorised this attack on Mr. Bridges. Lucas tells the group to stop what they were doing, that their actions are clearly driven by anger, one of the corrupt values to guard against. The System exists to ensure safety and order, not them. One of the ringleaders lunges at Lucas only to be pinned and held by Lucas, shocking Evie. Lucas manages to disperse the mob, quoting the Great Leader's Sentiments back at them before helping Mr. Bridges up. However, when Mr. Bridges thanks him, Lucas points out that he only acted to stop those other men from being corrupted by Mr. Bridges. Evie spots Lucas pass something to Mr. Bridges, his card she thought. When Lucas spots Evie he heads over and asks what she was doing. She responds promptly that she had been trying to decide on buying some bread but wasn't sure whether her mother would approve. Lucas tells her that she shouldn't waste the bakers time then before adding that he had spoken to her father, who had allowed Lucas to visit Evie again.

That night, Lucas arrived later than expected for an after-supper coffee, something the City did as a tradition. Evie's mother hurried to get Lucas a cup of coffee while Evie herself reflected on the day that Lucas had announced his desire to marry Evie. The look on her mother's face hadn't been excitement or pleasure but surprise, and then relief. Evie would no longer be her responsibility. Her father asked Evie whether she wished to marry Lucas, but this was a mere formality, a nice gesture that was otherwise meaningless as Evie had no choice but to agree. Lucas reveals that his brother was ill, currently quarantined, explaining why Evie had not seen Raffy all day. When Evie's mother asks him about Mr. Bridges, to Evie's surprise, Lucas responds that he felt evil should be fought wherever it was found. Evie mentions that she had seen an attack on Mr. Bridges, her mother stating that the attack was done by right-minded people who were showing Deviants that they did not tolerate them within the City. Lucas agrees with Evie's mother and even flirts with her slightly, calling her by her name (Delphine). Evie asks Lucas if he then thought that violence had a place within the City, causing Lucas to reply rather frostily that he understood and sympathised with the stresses of the City's citizens when a Deviant was found. He then asks to be shown the bathroom and once he is out of earshot, Evie's mother rounds on her and begins lambasting her for being impolite to their guest. Her father suggests that perhaps Evie's active mind was one of the reasons Lucas was interested in her, causing her mother to relax slightly. He then tells Evie that she should go upstairs and wait for Lucas, perhaps show him parts of the house.

As Evie goes upstairs, she finds Lucas in her father's study rather than in the bathroom. Lucas explains he had been admiring her father's trophies. The City didn't have competitive sports or games with winners and losers, such things were disallowed because they implied a subjugation in the idea of having a winner and loser. Evie's father had won alot of medals for his contributions to the City, through hard work and determination and it is these medals that Lucas appears to be viewing, though Evie can sense an undercurrent of nervousness from Lucas and uses it to press him about Raffy. They are both caught by Evie's father in his study though, who asks them what they were doing. Evie surprises herself by lying for Lucas and telling her father that Lucas had brought her there to ask her an important question. Her father leaves with the impression that Lucas had been setting a formal date for their marriage. As soon as her father leaves, Evie demands to know what had happened to Raffy. Lucas repeats his message that Raffy had been quarantined due to a sudden illness. When Evie threatens to tell her father about what Lucas was doing in the room, Lucas counters with the threat of telling her parents about her midnight visits with Raffy.

The story switches to the viewpoint of the Brother once again as he stands to receive Lucas. In the Brother's mind, Lucas is his best citizen, a model exemplar of the standard that the City should attempt to reach. The Brother asks Lucas about the glitch to which Lucas informs the Brother that the glitch was a non-existent bug, a nothing to be dismissed. As the Brother receives the update from Lucas, he comes to think about how Lucas' excellent loyalty could have been used as head of the police, but the technology Unit was the best place for him as Lucas ran the System flawlessly. The Brother then raises the issue of Raffy to Lucas, causing Lucas to respond rather sharply, asking what evidence the Brother had. The Brother reasoned that he is merely projecting his fears onto Lucas's words, Lucas was practically a machine, after all. He goes on to add that the System would judge Raffy a K, that he would be taken for the second New Baptism in the quiet of the night. To the Brother's surprise, Lucas asks for a favour from him, to grant him one last day with his brother for his and his mother's sake. The Brother accepts, pleased with the first human reaction he has ever seen from Lucas.

The next day Evie arrives early at work to see if she would see Raffy, though he fails to appear. She hears rumours that Raffy wasn't ill at all but under supervision from the City's police. She blames herself for not being stronger, for not standing up to Lucas. Returning home, she is surprised by her mother who asks her to help with the seamstress work she has (due to one of her colleagues falling ill). As they work together, her mother raises a discussion with Evie about her marriage with Lucas. She tells Evie that she was very lucky to have been matched with him, though Evie isn't sure she sees it the same way. She's shocked when her mother tells her that she should be thankful she was marrying an A, not having to settle for her father. Evie tells her mother that she should be happy, her father loved her and was a respected individual, a holder of the key. In a fit of anger she leaves her mother downstairs and stays in her room, not coming down for dinner.

Her father comes to her room later that night but waves aside Evie's apologies for fighting with her mother, telling her that the System had discovered evil within the City and that there had been a candidate for the second New Baptism. Evie is sick with worry that it would be her, that they had finally named her as a K but is equally dismayed when her father tells her that Raffy had been labelled K by the System. Her father leaves, telling her not to worry, that he would not look down on Lucas because he had been tarred by association. He adds that Lucas had been pivotal in collecting the information for the System. After her father leaves, she hears a knock on her window and is relieved because she knows it is Raffy, only to find herself opening the window for Lucas. Lucas climbs in and immediately clamps his hand on Evie's mouth, forestalling any attempt at a scream. Lucas tells Evie to listen to him carefully, he needed to know where her father's key to the City gate was. She responds by telling him she would never help him because he had betrayed Raffy, who could never have been a K. To her surprise, Lucas agrees with her and goes on to tell her he needed the key to help Raffy escape the City.

Lucas continues to tell her that K stands for Killable. Every K was not given a second New Baptism but instead was left outside the City for the Evils to kill them. The Evils always came the same night a K was revealed, and Raffy would be revealed tomorrow. Lucas adds that the Evils were brought to the City by the City itself. Lucas tells her that it was his fault Raffy got labelled a K, but not in the way she understood it though he fails to explain further, telling her instead that there was no time. However, when Lucas tries to get Evie to come with her to get Raffy out, Evie demands to know the reasons why. It was the glitch. Raffy had really found a communication device. Lucas, alarmed, immediately questions Evie whether she'd told anyone else about the device, though she admits she hadn't. Lucas had been pretending the entire time, donning a mask to confront the City while looking out for his brother, and even Evie to some extent. He explains that he had arranged a marriage to her because it was a way to keep her and Raffy safe, because she and Raffy could never have been arranged to marry. She goes to her father's study and begins to open the safe after removing the painting it had been hidden behind. Assaulted by some doubt though, she stops and returns to Lucas, telling him she didn't trust him, that she wouldn't do it. She goes on to tell Lucas that after everything he had done to them, how could she trust him? Lucas replies that it was he who had ensured that Raffy and her were never picked up by the System, who had helped ensure that nobody knew about the midnight meetings she'd been having with Raffy. Evie remains unconvinced, forcing Lucas to come clean about another issue. Evie was an adopted child. He presents her with papers admitting the same. It had been a policy after the Horrors to accept children into the City to boost the population. They would take children and give them to families that had none... though Lucas cannot bring himself to comment on what happened to the original parents. Evie goes to get the key after telling Lucas that she would leave the City with Raffy, she had no desire to remain if Raffy left.

There is another City out there, though the world outside is not plentiful in resources and remains scarred from the Horrors. Lucas' father had built the communication device into the System's coding to allow contact with outsiders, something Lucas had been utilising. As they head over to Lucas' house, he tells her how she should effect her escape once outside the City walls. They go together to free Raffy who is tied up inside Lucas' house. Raffy and Evie tie up Lucas for good effect before making their way out of the City. They manage to reach the swamp mentioned by Raffy's brother and continue through it. As they make their escape, they are chased by a dog and then one of the City's watchmen through the swamp. Raffy manages to dispose of the dog and the watchman does his very best to shoot them with a rifle (something that was not supposed to exist within the City), but the two manage to clear the City.

As Raffy and Evie relax slightly outside the City, they argue about which direction to go. Evie wants to go North as Lucas had told her, but Raffy still doesn't trust his brother and doesn't intend to go towards the other City. Later, as Raffy returns from foraging some blackberries, the two of them are suddenly and forcefully subdued and captured. Evie wakes up before a stranger who apologises for having to harm them, noting that they had removed Evie's 'chip' to be safe. She is afraid for Raffy and afraid of the stranger, who she recognises as an Evil. The man though indicates that Raffy is fine and seated behind her, if slightly more injured than her. Raffy makes a lunge at the man only to be beaten down by the man and his accomplices. They start to interrogate the two, promising to harm Raffy if Evie failed to talk. They demand to know what they were doing outside the City and don't believe Evie when she tells them they had escaped. As far as they knew, nobody ever escaped the City. Raffy and Evie protest their innocence in the face of the accusations levelled at them. The strangers think that the two are spies for the City, however, when Evie mentions that they had found a communication device, that this was the reason Raffy had been made a K (something the strangers know of), things change. Instead, they are brought along with the men.

Evie manages to anger Linus, one of the men, when he tries to explain what the concept of law was and she mistakenly equated it to the New Baptism. Later, they are given a meal, something that delights them as the two of them experience foodstuff and flavours they had never encountered within the City. Linus goes on to explain that the chips they had told Evie about were implants Raffy and Evie had in their heads, designed to track them. He removed them so that the City police could no longer find them. They don't believe Linus. Raffy tells Evie that they would escape from these strangers too. From there, the story switches to the perspective of the Brother again. He is talking with the chief of police. At times he is frustrated with the rules of the City because his police force only carried batons, with the exception of the watchman near the swamp who was a drunkard and didn't enter the City proper. The Brother cannot understand how the two of them managed to escape, and he finds himself calling in Lucas, asking him how they had managed it. Lucas tells the Brother that it was likely that the two had planned the escape for months. He apologises for not realising his brother's potential, especially when he tells the Brother that Raffy had no doubt been able to manipulate the System into being blind around Evie and Raffy's meetings. However, on a hunch, the Brother decides to keep the case involving the glitch open.

By this time, Raffy and Evie are only one day away from this other City, and it is here that they decide to effect their escape as soon as night falls. She tells Raffy that wherever he went, she would go too. However, as they settle down at a campsite, Linus approaches Evie and tells her that she was Raffy's protector, not the other way around. That protection wasn't about strength but intelligence. He goes on to tell Evie that Raffy was going to get himself in trouble unless Evie stepped in to stop him. His words chill Evie as she realises that Linus knew that Raffy wanted to escape. Their attempt to escape is accosted by Linus who threatens to kill them if they try to escape again. He adds that he wouldn't let them go because of a promise to Raffy's father long ago. They arrive at Base Camp to see that it is not a City as they imagined. Linus explains that this is actually an army headquarters. No one around wore labels and all the people they saw seemed to be 'alright,' allowing them to realise that what they had been told by the City was untrue. Kept within Base Camp, safely locked away are the Evils... Though Linus reveals that they are in fact, brain-damaged people. Linus sits them down and begins to explain about the origin behind the City, the story being an odd mirror to the one Raffy and Evie knew. Their Great Leader had been ridiculed for his theories, but even then had still pushed on, attempting to prove that his theory worked. Instead, his experiments got him into court, escaping with a plea of insanity. It was when the Great Leader joined underground communities that he met Linus. Linus had a dream, but his dream was to establish a System. Unlike the City's System though, he intended to create an electronic system that could preempt any desires and wants of the people living under it. Linus had built the City's System too, though he had not intended it to become a creation that punished people for their behaviour.

Linus continues, explaining that the Horrors weren't a horror by virtue of there having been a war. They were called the Horrors because the morality of war had degraded, children as soldiers, civilians as targets. Linus and Dr. Fisher (the Great Leader) established the City, though Raffy objects to this, asking why Linus wasn't mentioned in the Great Leader's Sentiments causing Linus to laugh and deride the Sentiments as a complete falsehood. He adds that they need not be afraid, the City's System couldn't overhear them anymore before continuing on. While Linus built the System, Dr. Fisher began his operations. However, every single person put under the knife was left damaged. Dr. Fisher refused to accept the results though, blaming his helpers, the equipment and even the patients themselves. The Evils that the City spent their time fearing were in fact the victims of Dr. Fisher's surgery. The New Baptism was a placebo effect for Dr. Fisher's believers, a small incision on the forehead to create the impression that the work had been done. Linus ended up confiding with the Brother. It was the Brother who came up with the idea of the placebo and of developing a social structure designed to enforce the placebo effect (the Gathering). It was the Brother who introduced the labels into the System. Linus tells Evie that part of the deal the Brother made to take power from Dr. Fisher was for all adults who came to the City to be given to him for experimentation in his quest to develop the New Baptism, this giving the Brother the army of Evils required to scare his citizens into compliance. Linus decided to leave after two things. The first being the 'disappearance' of the Great Leader, though Linus suspects the Brother had killed him, and secondly when he discovered the truth of the New Baptism. The New Baptism was being used by the Brother to insert tracking chips into people that linked directly to the System. The day Linus left was the day the Brother invented the K label as a means of targeting and removing those who threatened his power. He was left to die at the hands of the Evils before being rescued by Raffy's father. Raffy's father had worked out the truth behind the New Baptism by himself and worked to undermine the system.

Linus is shocked when he discovers that Raffy's father had been made a K when he was four years old. Something that had to be impossible because Linus was still in contact with him. Someone continued to send messages from the City letting Linus know when anyone was made a K so that they could be rescued. They had even been told that Raffy and Evie had escaped the City, to which Evie objects, asking why they'd beat Raffy. Linus replies that that had been done to ensure that he didn't try to escape. The two of them realise that Lucas had taken the role of his father, continuing to send messages in his absence while putting on a show for the City. Linus contacts Lucas and after confirming that Evie and Raffy were safe, Linus mentions that they now had a City key and that they would act on it soon.

As Evie sleeps she is troubled by a new dream, not the one of her fleeing towards a paradise with the man she realises is her father but instead a memory of her childhood. She recalls meeting her faux-parents and being adopted before she wakes up. She talks with Raffy who professes his love to her just as she wanted to tell Raffy about being kissed by Lucas before they had gone to rescue Raffy. When she does tell Raffy, he overreacts, pushing Evie away before going out of their tent. Evie remains in the tent for a long while before she manages to convince herself to walk outside and explore Base Camp. She stops at the holding area for the damaged individuals, her eyes drawn to a woman she feels she recognises, before being drawn to breakfast with Linus and a woman named Martha. Linus explains that the City was simply too large to be self-sufficient on the fields of produce within the City walls and that they used the Evils to cultivate foods for them under the supervision of guards.

Meanwhile, the Brother is furious. He has finally managed to piece together the truth of the matters, realised that he had been fooled by Lucas all this time, realised that Lucas had been contacting Linus. He calls in Sam, a technician for the System and tells him that evil can strike in unusual places, giving him a System change that he is to make without alerting anyone, a System change that would mark Lucas as a K. He tells Sam that completion of the task might even lead to the System rating the technician as an A.

It is almost 3pm, Wednesday, the time when Linus and his band intend to tackle the City once and for all. They intend to free the Evils at the prison camp and then use them to sow panic within the City, giving them free-reign past the City's police to shut down the System. Evie is rather affronted at the idea of using the brain-damaged people, but Martha explains to her that sometimes tough decisions needed to be made and in doing so, they would ensure that the City could never again abuse those people. As the meeting breaks up, Evie heads over to the holding area for the Evils and tells the guard that Linus had been asking for him, mentioning that she could stand watch for him. The guard leaves, allowing Evie to enter the area where she goes to meet the woman, telling her that Evie thought she was her mother. Instead though, she finds herself attacked by the woman and used as a hostage as the woman demands to be taken to the City. She is sedated, freeing Evie. Linus tells Evie that even if that woman was her mother, she was in no state to be that person anymore. The removal of the amygdala created individuals without any moral code, the woman had simply used Evie in an attempt to get to the City.

As the band of armed men led by Linus march towards the City, they prepare their plan. They intend to send the Evils through the East gate of the City, creating enough of a commotion that they could enter the West gate where Lucas would be waiting for them, allowing them access without any trouble. As they march though, Lucas is being arrested by the Brother, Sam and two policemen. The Brother leaves Lucas in a holding room with two guards, instructing them not to listen to anything he might try to say. Lucas was to be labelled as a K by the System. Linus' men and, Evie and Raffy are all at the West gate, waiting for Lucas as they begin to hear the disturbance at the East gate kick off. However, Lucas is unable to go to them, being able to hear the commotion even from his cell. Fortunately, Mr. Bridges arrives to open the West gate after a long and nerve-wracking period, having been sent by Lucas. They enter, spotting the brain-damaged victims leading the police on a merry chase, enjoying what appeared to be a game to them. They continue on to the government building, freeing Lucas. Evie leads Martha up to the City's labelling Unit, where she had worked before. They decide to implement label changes for everyone to A except for the Brother, who they decide they would make a D if they found his report code. While Evie and Martha work on label changes, Lucas confronts the Brother, entering his private chambers. He tells the Brother that he had used the System's recordings of his voice to dismiss the Brother's guards. Lucas forces the Brother to ring the Gathering Bell and to come with him to the City's Meeting Hall. Evie and Martha, finished, head to Raffy who has just finished editing the System so that it could no longer track any of the City's citizens, however, to their concern, Linus (who told Raffy he would be back) had been missing for twenty minutes. Martha decides to look for him, giving Evie the chance to apologise to Raffy, telling him that she only had eyes for him, that she'd kissed Lucas not because she loved him, but because Lucas was going to save Raffy. Raffy apologises to and the two make up, their spat ended before they are greeted by the arrival of Lucas. Martha returns shortly after, admitting that she hadn't been able to find Linus at all. They reason that perhaps Linus had headed to the Meeting Hall where they had gathered the City's citizens.

They find the Brother had escaped from his holding place without Mr. Bridges' knowledge (who had been guarding the entrance to the room). Their search ends when they find Linus and the Brother. Linus has changed the plan, wanting to seek some measure of revenge from the Brother but when he reaches for his gun he finds it missing. The Brother taunts Linus' inability to focus on practical matters before pointing at the baton-armed police who have arrived. Evie draws a gun, shocking the Meeting Hall as she points it at the Brother. He first tries to cajole Evie into putting the gun down, then pleads and begs... Then to the shock of the City's citizens, he demands that the police draw their guns, he didn't care if people saw the guns. However, as Evie argues with Linus, demanding her right to kill the Brother, a shot is fired. The Brother is shot in the leg by Lucas who had taken a gun from one of the police during the moment. Linus takes the very same gun and decides to hold the wounded Brother hostage allowing the others to make their escape. Lucas decides to remain in the City though, to help Linus pick up the pieces that would inevitably need picking up once the citizens discovered the System was no longer functioning for them.

The epilogue is another dream sequence like the nightmare Evie had suffered from at the beginning... Except this time it is not a nightmare, it is a good dream, one where the man encouraging her forwards to a new haven is her lover, Raffy.

Food for thought:

This is a story where the main theme, like the Puppet Masters, is about information, the effect that control of information can have and the price of freedom. Admittedly, being a 'teen'-fiction (where the principle characters are 'young adults') it doesn't go quite as far as Heinlein's story. For example, no one actually dies in the book, sure there are people who were labelled K and left to die, but Linus reveals that all those people had been saved. The only deaths that really occur in the entire novel happen as part of the story's setting, during the Horrors.

The citizens of the City in this book live in what they perceive as the last bastion of civilisation in a world left ruined by wars. Their lives are set and run entirely by the System that governs them and by the Brother that governs the System, though of course, they don't realise it. They are like the proverbial frog at the bottom of the well that looks up and sees the entirety of the world. The sky, the walls of the well and the land the frog stands on, totally unaware of the existence of a larger world beyond the wall's exterior. Just like that frog, the City's citizens live a peaceful but ignorant lifestyle. Their behaviour and lives have been controlled not by any harsh implement or physical force but by the simple fact that they have been told that their world is all that there is. To all intents and purposes they experience a closed understanding of the world that is enforced by the cult-like behaviour.

However, freedom is not necessarily better. It is a powerful concept and evokes strong emotions because as individuals, we all consider ourselves masters of our own destinies. To have freedom is something many people take for granted, but sometimes what is perceived as freedom can actually be another form of control with the illusion of free will. For example, if I asked you to pick between a blue or yellow item. I've given the illusion of freedom by granting a choice, but I have presented only two definite options without alternatives, thereby controlling the response.

Moving back to the concept of freedom, freedom is not inherently competent or even 'good.' You see elements of that in the chaos caused at the end when they have overridden the System. The citizens are not jumping up and down with joy at their new circumstance, they are mostly confused and none of them actually show direct support for or against the Brother after the accusations. Life is easier without freedom, less effort is required to exert one's desires upon the world. The Killables, like last week's The Puppet Masters, highlights the danger of never questioning the world you live in.

It also features a small link to the nature of the soul. The soul is a subject that is often separated from our 'chemical' selves. From the neurological perspective, our morality, logic and personality is linked to the chemicals received in our brains and the reactions of various parts of it to that stimuli. However, such a clinical understanding degrades the concept of the soul, something which is seen as indefinably human, this idea that our personality (what makes us 'us') is sacrosanct. You see it in the form of the experiments to remove the amygdala. Instead of resulting in human beings who are now 'good' the operation results in morally bankrupt individuals (who also appear to have lost some of their intelligence too), giving rise to this idea that you cannot clinically remove 'evil' without destroying the 'soul' of that person.

Finally, as a little something I noticed, Linus' dream for his ideal System is not unlike the dreams of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The idea that a computing system could be developed to optimise the life of the Union's citizens was part of 1959 in the USSR where slogans such as "Soviet scientists! Raise the effectiveness of scientific research, strengthen the connection between science and industry!" could be found. In some ways, The Killables can be said to be analogous of the USSR. Like the USSR, the City claimed to be an utopia for the masses within its walls but in truth was an autocratic and oppressive regime. The City had itself a wall designed to keep the outside world away from itself, much like the Iron Curtain that descended (to quote Churchill again).
Mind you, only in a minor way, does the analogy fit, but nonetheless, Linus' dream of optimisation through a computing system is remarkably similar to the Soviet dreams of the late 1950s where the long sought 'utopia' was due to arrive (much as Linus' dream was built to provide utopia) only for both dreams to collapse on themselves.