Sanctuary
Gulliver Host is eight years old. He is a bright boy, one of the most creative thinkers for his age
in all of Sanctuary. One day he wonders aloud if human beings could ever fly in the sky like
birds. His parents laugh as if he had told a joke. His younger sister laughs along with them,
though she does not understand what has been said.
He then takes things a step further and wonders aloud if humans would ever reach the
Golden City of the Designers high above Sanctuary if they could fly. His parents stop laughing
and scold him fiercely for having such criminal thoughts. His younger sister does the same,
though she does not understand the reason.
Angus Angel is eight years old. His love for his family and neighbours is unrivalled. His
parents remind him to treasure these moments for not everybody is as fortunate as he is. When
they say this they look with a kind of sadness towards his older brother whose training is soon to
commence as it must for all who live in the Golden City of the Designers. Angus smiles and
nods, though he does not really understand what they mean. Everybody he knows is happy and
content in their lives.
Gulliver Host is thirteen years old, but has already decided what he wants to do: he wants
to become an inventor. His parents are surprised. Inventors were a rare breed indeed; there is so
little need for them within Sanctuary. Most who invent do so as a hobby rather than as a serious
profession since the Designers provide all the technology needed for life within the walls of
Sanctuary. Nevertheless they support his decision and soon he goes to receive his education. By
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the time most others his age are just deciding on their profession Gulliver has already graduated
and has begun his work.
Angus Angel is thirteen years old. It is time for his training to begin. He is excited; he
believes that he can handle anything, that he will see his brother again, and that he will become a
great aid to humanity as do all those born within the Golden City. His parents smile and wave,
though he thinks that he sees tears in their eyes.
Angus Angel walks through the gold gilded doors into the Observatory, its walls and
floor completely constructed from glass. From here he can see all of Sanctuary spread out below
him and also, for the first time, a little of what lies beyond, all in the distance far below him. In
the center of the room there are two stands, each with a switch on them. Remembering his
instructions, he flips the left switch first and sees what lies within Sanctuary, and then he flips
the right to see what lies beyond.
He is led out of the Observatory by one of the Designed, though ordinarily their smooth,
blank faces disturb him greatly. Huge sobs rack his body as the shock of what he has seen takes a
firm hold. He rushes back into the arms of his parents and they cry together, he because of his
joy to see them again and they because they are sad that he had to experience what he did.
Gulliver Host is twenty years old. He has become quite successful in his chosen
profession due to the fact that he has widened the range within which he works from mechanics
to botany.
He works extensively with ecologists, architects, botanists and zoologists to create a
mixture of soils that better support both wild plants (and therefore animals) and domesticated
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ones. He invents a mechanical alternative to riding horseback, a vehicle with a simple seat, and
five wheels and peddles to turn said wheels. He also works on far more complex machinery:
devices that tell the time of day without consultation of the sun and glasses that allow the wearer
to see in the dark. He makes no secret of the fact that these inventions are based off of
technology that exists in old myths and legends. He has brought the fictional to life.
Socially he is considered a little bit queer, but he is pleasant and is accepted by his
neighbours. For recreation he likes to take long walks or shut himself away in his home
alternately. Though he does nothing openly, the fact that he rarely attends the readings of the
Designed Scriptures makes him the object of much gossip.
Angus Angel is twenty years old. He has completed his training and is now a Designer
and as such goes to meet the Creator before taking on his duties. He enters the innermost tower
of the Golden City and is transported to the hidden chamber of the Creator. He is afraid to look at
first, but when he does at last he is surprised by what he sees.
The old woman laughs and beckons him to come closer. She then proceeds to tell Angus
about the history behind Sanctuary and the reasons for the creation of its boundaries. The more
Angus hears the more he understands and the more determined he becomes to see his duties out.
From this day to the end of his days Angus Angel is a Designer.
Gulliver Host is twenty three years old. He has become more and more withdrawn over
the past couple of years, preferring to lock himself away than to enjoy the company of others. He
has ceased attending readings of the Designed Scriptures altogether and has lost many a good
friend because of it.
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He continues to produce inventions because he must and serves his minimum amount of
time farming as do all citizens of Sanctuary, but he has become more secluded than most. It is
rumored that he takes the Ancient Works as more than just stories and that he believes in the
fantastical ideas within such as that man had once flown, created false images, and that there was
a large lake called the sea beyond the walls. For such criminal thoughts his company is avoided
and it is commonly wondered why it is that the Designers have not interfered.
Angus Angel is twenty three years old. He surveys twenty people since he is in his first
years of his duties. He takes over from a recently deceased Designer in the surveying of Gulliver
Host. After reading over the previous reports on this man he decides that he should pay close
attention to him.
There is one blind spot in the surveillance of Gulliver Host, a blind spot he spends far too
much time in. The late Designer had been old, very old, and had many others to survey; he was
not to blame for not seeing the signs. When Gulliver is out working, Angus Angel commands
one of the Designed place a camera in his basement to cover the blind spot. He then he puzzles
over what he is looking at for a long time.
Gulliver Host is twenty five years old. He is arrested by one of the Designed for the crime
of inventing a machine capable of penetrating the boundaries of Sanctuary. For this most heinous
crime he is to be exiled. So far as his family and friends are concerned he no longer exists and all
of his inventions are to disappear along with him.
He is transported to a detainment center where he is questioned, by whom he does not
know. The voice seems to come from all directions at once. When asked why he would do such a
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thing he replies that he searches for the truth and dislikes being imprisoned within the walls of
Sanctuary. In response he is taken to a different room.
He walks through the gold gilded doors into the Observatory. From here he can see all of
Sanctuary spread out below him and also, for the first time, a little of what lies beyond, all in the
distance far below. Within the room are two switches on stands. His curiosity gets the best of
him and he pulls the switch on the left. Light fills the room, blinds cover the glass and for an
instant he cannot see…
…Gulliver Host stands in the center of a street, a street that he knows well. This is a
street near the place he was raised, still bustling with life. After a few seconds the scene changes.
He now stands in farmland being happily tilled by farmers in unison. The next scene is a room in
a family home, newly-weds fawning over their baby, permission for whom they had gotten from
the Designers. He flips the switch back and the scene fades and he is now back in the
Observatory. He goes to the second switch and pulls it…
…Gulliver Host stands on hard, blackened earth. On one side he sees the visible layer of
the walls of Sanctuary. On the other side there was a bleak, desolate landscape. He realises that
he must be seeing what lies beyond Sanctuary, just like he always wanted. The scene changes
and now he stands outside an enormous and grotesque fortress, its walls crumbling, its
woodwork (it must have taken a forest to make!) rotting or already rotted away leaving only its
rusted, metal outer shell. He sees a thin figure make its way out of this fortress, dirty and all but
naked, and looks to the sky. Gulliver does the same. There is no sun here and no clouds either.
There is nothing but thick smog, bringing neither sunlight nor water to the world below.
The scene changes once more. At first Gulliver Host does not understand what he is
seeing, and then he is sick with revulsion. Men and women garbed in metal and animal furs fight
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one another with sharp pieces of metal, with pointed sticks, with cylinders that shoot fire and
metal, with fire, with clubs, with their bare hands and there is blood, so much blood, more blood
than Gulliver has ever seen before. They fight for a single tree standing on a hilltop between the
two opposing forces and, in the struggle, the tree is set alight.
Gulliver watches many such scenes. Scenes of horrors he had never imagined, of
violence, abuse and brutality. There is so much anger here, so much sorrow such as the people of
Sanctuary did not know. The final scene is of people attacking the walls of Sanctuary, trying
desperately to get through for within Sanctuary the skies are blue and there is food to be had.
They attack with their weapons and their fire, determined to take with war what had been
preserved with peace. These attackers are beyond salvation; they cannot be taught peace. He flips
the switch and he stands once more in the Observatory.
What he sees shocks him, but he does not cry or scream. With the shock comes the
understanding and the guilt of what he tried to do. The doors of the Observatory open behind
him. He turns and there stands a man. He is not a god, as he had grown up believing the
Designers were, but a man, plain and simple.
“It’s not what you expected,” says Angus Angel.
“No,” replies Gulliver Host, “it’s far more human.”
“Do you understand now why we cannot allow you to penetrate the walls of Sanctuary?”
asks Angus Angel.
“Humanity would fall once more into chaos,” explains Gulliver Host.
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“The chaos that humanity creates,” elaborates Angus Angel, “the chaos that bred war and
greed and famine, the chaos that all but killed the planet, the chaos that the Creator and we, the
Designers, save them from.”
“My inventions could have ended humanity’s last chance,” laments Gulliver Host,” its
last chance for a peaceful existence.”
“You can make up for that,” states Angus Angel.
“How can I?” inquires Gulliver Host.
“You could become a Designer,” offers Angus Angel.
Gulliver Host is thirty two years old. He has completed his late training and is now a
Designer and as such goes to meet the Creator before taking on his duties. He enters the
centermost chamber of the Golden City and is transported to the hidden chamber of the Creator.
The Creator laughs and beckons him to come closer. She then proceeds to tell Gulliver
the history behind Sanctuary and the reasons for the creation of its boundaries, but that is nothing
that he doesn’t already know.
Word Count: 2076
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