My Name Around This Star

My Name Around This Star

by J. B. Duryea

Light from the Sun of Earth took centuries to reach the planet Azak. It took mankind even longer than that to reach her. This blue pearl in empty and unforgiving space was an ocean planet, inhabited by humans solely to extract its water, the purest in the galaxy. Azak Water was traded throughout the far reaches of space and its location on the Sipher route made it a stop for every trade ship.

Inhabitation had been continuous throughout the past ninety-six years on Saubha, the young city that floated above the crashing ocean of Azak. Life in Saubha was a highly organized and ritualized society. And today was a most important day in Saubha: the third generation of children born on Azak were beginning to receive their names.

Naming was a rite of passage. When the oldest of a generation turned sixteen, the generation began ceremoniously receiving their names. Until that day the children were only a letter, M or F, male or female and a number. The number was the year after arrival on Azak and the order of their birth in that year.

F-80-1, the first child born in the the eightieth year, now stood on a platform, blazing lights bearing down on her, in the dome that was Saubha's public center. The lights were far away, but she could feel their intense heat. Sweat began to form at the top of her forehead and heat came from her armpits. She had been here before, although she did not remember it, when she was presented to Saubha after her birth.

As the first birth of the generation she responsible for all those younger than her. She stood in the front sweating with nervous anxiety. Behind her the rest of her generation stood, but she could not turn to look at them. Not now. Now she had to be the leader.

In her head she recalled the name that was supposed to be given to her. As she thought about the name she clenched her jaw, it would not even be muttered accidentally. The name in her head stayed there. If she possessed the ability to forget things, she would have forgotten this name.

The grand master of the ceremony stood above, still as a statue. She was the eldest person in Saubha, outliving almost all of the others from the first generation. Shimmering blue lights smoothed her aged face. Behind her the named people stared at the presentation before them. Recalling the day they received their names, the community of Saubha looked pleasingly at the youth. These young ones would finally be given the names they have earned. Raising her hands to silence the crowd, the grand master spoke.

There was a long sermon that was given. Not a word of it was understood by the youth below. The grand master’s voice, reverberated into meaningless echoes. Her voice trailed off as she finished and then she looked down at the nameless children below her.

“What name do you choose?” she asked ceremoniously, her question directed at the leader of the third generation. Her voice faded into a long and empty silence.

Long seconds passed. The silence had gone on for much longer than was acceptable. The crowd began to buzz. All eyes were on F-80-1. Traditionally, she would lead the ceremony by announcing her name. But this ceremony was the end of that tradition.

Unable see the grand master’s face, F-80-1 could still feel the scorn even from so far away. It was hotter and more intense than the lights. Feeling alone under the spotlight and the scorn, she had a flash of doubt about what to do next. For the rest of her life she remembered that doubt, but it was only a flash of doubt.

F-80-1 dropped her robe and exposed her body in the light, which glared on her still developing adolescent form. Behind her the others dropped their robes. They were all naked before the crowd. The white hot lights bouncing off the many pale, black or tan bodies of male and female youths. These bodies, with inappropriate blemishes, improper bulges, and many more imperfections, reminded the onlookers of their humanity.

Painted on their bodies were six words, all in black. It was the first act of defiance the community had ever seen. Only one spoke the words written. It was the first born child of the year 80.

“I will choose my own name,” she declared.

Immediately the lights went out. In the blue darkness the crowd began to murmur. When the lights came back on a few moments later, the platform was empty.