The Silenced [Part One]

Short Story | Science Fiction

1

The world had lost it’s voice.

That’s what my mother used to say when I asked her. Well, say in the only way she could; the only way any of us could. Because saying words was not something we could do. Nobody could. Not anymore. Not since the world had lost its voice. What we could do was sign to each other or write to each other; silent words that danced through the air or ink that glided across the page. Why, you might ask? Because the world was different to how it had been; much different. It was quiet. Because there were no words spoken anymore. With no words bridging the gap between people; there was nothing much to fill the silence other than the noises the world made to entertain itself. The birds still sang, the wind still blew and the leaves still rustled. But the people were silent.

It hadn’t always been quiet though, that much at least I do know thanks to the history books we read in school. And if there was anything I lived by growing up it what was written on the page; the words I understood anyway. By the time my generation got around to learning how to read and write, there were almost no words left. So, I hope you’ll excuse my language, simple as it is.  I don’t know all that many big words, except a few which I’ll try and use to give this story an extra bit of flourish (see, flourish is one I know). I just need to get this down, late as it is. I want to get it all down whilst it’s still fresh; today is one I want to remember forever. Because today, everything changed and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. But first, let me go back a little to how the world was before and how it is now because my bet, or my hope is, that by the time you are reading this it’ll be an different world altogether. If I’ve done my job right, it should be. Not because of me, oh no. 

Because of her. Because of The Kid. Because of The One With The Voice.

But like I say, let’s go back a little so you know what the world is like now, before it changes back for the better.

2

From what I read and from what I’ve been told it all started when the “Technological Revolution” (hope I’ve spelled that right) happened. The Technological Revolution made everything convenient. You could connect to people faster. You could get the answer to any question quicker. Hell, it made it impossible to be dumb with one of those noisy little shiny metal bricks in your hand; everyone was the smartest person in the room. You could lose yourself in that screen; escape with a game or a film or a short video that scrolled onto the next one. Eventually though, you just lost yourself. From what I understand, people stopped speaking to each other, using their thumbs instead of their tongues. Makes no small wonder then that evolution took over then, does it? After all, evolution gets rid of the things we don’t need or use anymore, right? Made it so we weren’t walking round with little tails, or covered head to toe in fur, or hunched over dragging our knuckles, didn’t it? You’re probably reading this and nodding your head. Or maybe I’ve got it all wrong but that’s the information I’ve got and I’m sticking with it. 

Anyway, my point is to say that with the whole world being as smart as it was, it was a pity nobody thought to think about something like that. Evolution, you know? 

Looking back now, at the pictures of those fleshy little pink things the history books called tongues, it’s hard to imagine having one. They were just crazy looking.But apparently they were important. Meant you could speak, taste food properly - even acted as some extra storage space for memory, some people wrote. I don’t know. By the time my generation came around and my mother’s before that, just like there were no words left floating through there air, there were no tongues left in the world, except the odd few. And those people who still did have them were so old now that they had forgotten how to use them and what words to say that would make a difference. But us, we didn’t care much, because we didn’t know any different. As far as we were concerned, we didn’t need to speak, we could get by without because by then the whole word had adapted. All we needed was ink, paper and our hands to communicate by writing or signing. Whatever those pink things were important for, they weren’t important now. Sure, we have something there were they used to be but it’s just a little pink button in the middle of our mouths. My guess is that it’s the bare minimum of what we need to get by and nothing more.

So, that’s the way the world was and is now. Silence became the new status quo. You might be wondering, what about those musical words and moving pictures with sound? Songs and Cinema. What about the technology? Ever heard of a snake eating its own tail? Well we got ourselves into one of those situations. The less language that was used, the less words that we used to speak to each other because the emojis, and the slang and the acronyms and the back and forth sharing of videos became the only form of communication, the more words we lost. And words are the language that make the world go round. Eventually, the world lost enough words that it affected production, innovation, invention; everything. How can you design a screen you hold in your hands if you can’t remember the words to describe how to make it or what to use it for? How can you make music when you lose the lyrics to the song? How can you tell a story without the language of lore? Eventually, enough words were lost which meant the death of one world and the birth of another. We moved back to a more analogue state; we moved from The Age of Language to The Age of Silence. 

3

Of course, over time, we adapted. Or the people before me adapted, it’s been a long time. I didn’t need to do the heavy lifting. I’m just standing on the shoulders of giants. Like everything else, like everything through time, some adapted better than others. Some found a way in the new world that suited better. By which of course I mean that they found away. You know who I mean, don’t you? Those in charge of how the world works; those that make the rules and are first to break the rules. The money makers and coin takers. They adapted better than anyone because of course they did. They just found another way to separate themselves from the rest of us. They found what was most valuable in the new world (words and ways of communicating) and monopolised it. Their mission was to scour the world for old technology and devices that contained the spoken word; remnants from the The Age of Language. Old films, old records, old cassette tapes, that sort of thing. We called anything like that a Talk Box. They had become a rarity and before long there was a burgeoning market to find and sell these Talk Boxes to the highest bidder. Why? Because they had found a way to use these Talk Boxes to simulate speech. They would fuse it to their body and it allowed them to simulate the old way of communicating. We call them The Talkers. It was an expensive and risky procedure which means only the select few can do it. And those select few where the ones who had a voice to run the world and rule the people in it. From what I read, I guess nothing much has changed in that regard, has it? With the world losing its voice, it lost the ability to dissent. Disagree. Speak out and stand up. The Talkers like it that way, and created The Silencers who make sure to retain this new status quo of silence. The world is now separated between The Talkers and The Silenced, with The Silencers sitting in between. I don’t need to give you three guesses to tell you which of these that I am. If I do, I’ve not told this right.

Anyway, that’s the way it has been. That’s you up to speed I guess, pretty much. The way I’ve always known it. Of course, we would find a way, wouldn’t we? To stand up. To speak up. 

To find our voice. 

That’s where I come in. That’s how I got involved with the story I’m telling.

4

I decided a long time ago that when I grew up and figured out how the world worked that I would do my bit to help people. My Mum always told me stories the best she could with the words she could remember how to spell and the ones she knew how to sign. Occasionally, maybe once a year, she managed to find a remnant of the old age and she would gift it to me. One year it was a book which I read until my torch batteries died out or I fell asleep. Another year it was a film which she found with an old projector and we watched it on an old bed sheet. Her last year it was an old box of vinyl records and a record player; we put on a song and danced like we did when I was a kid. That was my favourite year, even though I didn’t know it would be our last. 

We did that every year for one night only. It was our little tradition and it felt like we had travelled back to a happier time. I don’t know how she did it but I remember how amazing it was and the profound effect it had on me. The way these stories spoke to me; the way they made me think and feel. I fell in love with stories then and there and I decided that when I was old enough, I would find a way to do for everyone what my Mum did for me. I would give the gift of stories and see how they bridged that gap between us. It would connect people in a way they hadn’t before. It would make them think and feel. And it would rediscover The Age of Language in this, The Age of Silence.

That’s why they call me Story.  Nobody has any real names here anymore; most of them are forgotten. I own  a small shop nestled down an alley at the edge of Town. Nobody remembers the name of Town either; the signs were destroyed long ago, and the maps are lost. But my shop is tucked away in there. It’s called The Speak-Easy. For the most part, or on the front of it at least, I sell pen and paper in order for people to “speak” easier with each other. But of course, selling ink and paper wouldn’t pay all the bills, would it? Course not. I have a little side business that only those I trust know about; The Speak-Easy Audio Antiquities and Rarities. That’s where the real money is made. That’s where my true calling is.  This is where I have my collection of stories; there are records, and books, and films and even little boxes with a wind-up handle that speaks some words if you turn it just right. Some people consider this contraband and I would be thrown in jail on smuggling charges but I consider it a public service so it’s worth the risk. How does it work? It’s a straightforward system and one I came up with when I learned about those palaces there used to be to hold books and films; libraries and video shops I think they were called. When it comes to The Speak-Easy Audio Antiquities and Rarities anyone can, for a small fee, rent a story of their choosing for one night only then return to me. That’s the only rule I have; one night only. They can’t keep it. I don’t want The Silencers finding it and tracing it back to me. Of course, I had befriended a few Silencers in order to keep it running smoothly; it helped to have people on the inside that I could rely on but you could never tell when the wrong person might find out and it wasn’t worth the risk. Besides, I was friendly with only a select few of them and even those I didn’t trust. I keep in their good books and they keep me in theirs. They’d turn a blind eye, smuggle anything The Talkers had discarded and give me a pass on any of the Town-Wide Searches in return for a story of their choosing whenever they wanted it and with no one-night return policy applied. And it was worth it, especially nowadays with the Searches becoming more and more frequent.

The Searches came into play when The Talkers started to get nervous. When rumours started to circulate that there was those in The Silenced community that owned Audio & Visual Antiques, ones that only they should own. They wanted to make sure it wasn’t true. If The Silenced got their voice back, it wouldn’t exactly go well for them, would it? There was another rumour, of course, one that concerned them more. One that was their biggest fear.

And one that I didn’t believe; not until today. 

The Re-Evolution.

For my money, The Re-Evolution was just a myth. It was a bedtime story that we told our kids in order to help them sleep at night without the light on. The Re-Evolution imagined that people were being born again with tongues and learning to speak in the Old Language. If this were to happen, then those with a voice would speak over those who wanted to keep us silent, wouldn’t they? And they didn’t want that.  So even though it was another story we told ourselves, even though it was nothing but a rumour, they didn’t want to risk it. They created the Open-Mouth Checkpoints where you had to open wide and prove you didn’t have a tongue hidden away in there. They increased the Searches and anyone found with their own ad-hoc voice box was being punished and anyone found selling or renting Audio Antiquities would be in for a bad time. They liked that they found a way to divide the world again, I guess and wanted to keep it that way. But of course, nothing stays the same for long. And this world was no exception. Which brings me to now. To me. To today.

To her. 

To The Kid.

To The One With The Voice.

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It’s been a few weeks since you’ve had a new story and a while since a new short story! With SEARCH S1 ending and now in its hiatus between seasons, I thought I’d share a new short story which will be serialised over the next few weeks. At the moment, I think it will be a three-part story but the joy of writing means I may discover new turns in the tale which might extend it beyond that.

The Silenced is a story that has been around for a while. I had the idea a number of years ago and it’s remained half-written until recently. It went through a few terrible titles until my wife came up with The Silenced when I was talking to her about what it should be called. It’s a much better title that what I originally had planned; she also noticed that the cover art didn’t really speak to what the story was. On the cover image, I’m extending a big thank you to my sister-in-law Lauren who helped picked out the final cover art!

Writing is a lonely endeavour but I’m lucky enough to have family and friends that I can bounce ideas off of; they always end up collaborators.

The Silenced fits nicely into the collection CEAL: A Collection of Stories From The End of The World because, well it’s an apocalyptic story of sorts and its an apocalypse brought around by humans and technology. Different to the others in the collection but hopefully just as enjoyable.

I’m intrigued to find out what people think of The Silenced after reading Part One.

Look forward to sharing this story over the next few weeks.

Thank you for the support and for reading the stories here. It means a great deal.

Cheers

Cx