The Constant Gardener

Brotherhood Outpost

“Why are you always reading those?”

He looked up from the pages reluctantly.

“You’re always reading those space stories. Science Fiction. Why are you always reading those?”

He dog-eared the page rubbed his temples and replied.

“I suppose it’s just a nice change of pace.”

He returned to his reading, lost to the movement about him. His friend, Ringo, had apparently been satisfied with the answer for the time being.

They were safely ensconced well underground in one of the few repositories of knowledge the Brotherhood and the Followers had managed to establish together. As Hybrids he, Desmond, and Ringo were assigned the duties of both Scribe and Knight. Desmond’s strength, and thus often assignments, tended more toward the scholarly duties of the Scribe while Ringo’s lack of patience kept him primarily occupied in the duties of a Knight. Tonight, once again, Ringo found himself reading through a book hoping to find something, anything, of use to the Brotherhood and finding nothing.

“It’s just…” his friend continued, “We know so little about the past, and you spend your time reading about a made up future. It’s weird Des.”

He smiled, they’d gone through Basic together, Ringo wasn’t done yet, he spoke it starts and stops, and he spoke a lot. A few scribes who had a passing knowledge of his tendencies nonchalantly scooted their books away or left to finish their work in their quarters.

“You’re smarter than me. It’s your thing. You read faster, you get more out of it. I could read this whole…”

Ringo shut his book in frustration and pushed it off the desk.

“I could read this whole damn ****ing book. Whole ****ing thing. Eventually. Wouldn’t get nothing out of it. I’d be lucky if I learned whatever the hell it is I’m supposed to learn from it.”

The room had all but emptied out now as though everyone in it were of a hive mind.

“You get stuff. You’re the idea man. Don’t you want to read...” he struggled to figure out what he thought Desmond ought to be reading, “…math books or…physics…or…or…history…or something?”