The Golden City by John Twelve Hawks Page A

glanced down at his feet and smiled nervously.
    “We—We know each other,” Zami said.
    “Wonderful! Sometimes that happens.” The guardian shook the young man’s hand. “And who am I speaking to?”
    “Malveto.”
    “You look like a happy groom.”
    “Yes, sir. Yes, I am.”
    As the evening continued, more brides were introduced to their grooms. Some of the couples were strangers, while others had knowneach other since childhood. At certain intervals, the guardian presented wedding gifts: tools, clothes, and simple furniture. No one seemed to find it surprising that that lasers and video screens existed in the same world as wet crawlers and horse carts.
    Finally twelve new couples were led off stage. The lights dimmed and the music became slow and solemn. The harvesters sitting around Michael stopped chattering to each other. They looked tense and expectant. Verga leaned toward the screen.
    “Each of us is a strand of thread woven tightly into a piece of cloth. The faithful servants are strong. The militants are brave. We guardians are thoughtful. But all of us serve the gods,” the Guardian said. “Unfortunately there are a few heretics who attempt to destroy the sacred unity that binds us together.”
    Militants waiting in an off-stage area rolled out three men strapped to heavy wooden chairs. The prisoners had shaven heads, and bandages covered their necks. They wore only flimsy white robes that reminded Michael of hospital gowns.
    The guardian approached the oldest prisoner. “This enemy of the gods was once a faithful servant.”
    The prisoner was trembling. His mouth and tongue moved, but only a gurgling sound came out. Now the reason for the bandages came clear—someone had removed the man’s vocal cords.
    “But he was a servant who committed a vicious crime!”
    The visionary screen showed the prisoner chasing a young woman through a warehouse filled with storage bins. As the woman fumbled with a door latch, the man grabbed her from behind, threw her to the ground and began to rape her. The surveillance cameras photographed the scene from a variety of angles, but no one called for help.
    The auditorium reappeared on the screen and a camera moved into a close-up of the man strapped to the second chair. This prisonerwas younger than the rapist. His face was slack and his eyes rolled upward as if he had been drugged.
    “And now we have a church militant who became a traitor and murderer,” the guardian said. “He was taught to be brave and faithful, but he violated his oath and killed a superior.”
    The screen switched to surveillance footage of the prisoner standing in what appeared to be a military barracks. He was arguing with an older man and suddenly began beating him with a length of pipe. As the attack escalated, the harvesters stood up and shouted at the screen. When the militant finished, he turned and ran between two rows of cots. It seemed like he was coming toward the harvesters, trying to attack them.
    “And now a true sacrilege,” the guardian said. “This wretch is a fellow guardian. A man I once called brother.”
    The visionary showed a guardian using a hammer to destroy an altar in one of the crystal towers. The harvesters watching the screen began shouting. “Kill him! Kill them all!” Fists were raised and faces were distorted with rage. Michael could hear babies crying, terrified by their mothers’ anger.
    “There’s no doubt of these crimes,” the blond guardian said. “No doubt of the punishment.”
    Militants readjusted the hinged parts of the chairs so that they became wooden racks with the prisoners still fastened to the frames. While the prisoners’ gowns were ripped away, another group of militants appeared, pulling large hooks fastened to steel cables. The cables were attached to struts that extended over the stage.
    A choir began singing as men with hammers pounded the hooks into the prisoners. When the cables were pulled tight, the rapist was pulled up into