Chapter 16: Edgar

Edgar's whole life revolved around the plants. Ever since he could remember his father trained him in plants. Most of the other children saw the flame of continuance when they were 12. Edgar knew about it well before then, he also knew what fueled it. This was a secret of the colony. It was something everyone knew but no one talked about. It was a chilling discovery for Edgar to learn part of the fuel for the colony was death itself. 

"Death is a spark. 

All sparks are valuable.

The spark never dies." 

These are the whispers on the lips of all the colonists when they visit the flame. Small prayers they utter and lift up. Hoping their lives are valuable. 

Edgar understood these words more than anyone. His father was an intellect, and his parents were among the first 200 to create the colony. He saw the domes rise as a boy and learned to live underground. He was valued among the entire community because he helped develop a hybrid of the sweet potato which contained more nutrients. 

Learning the basics of gardening and how to create the best soil from compost were the beginnings of Edgar's life. Well versed in earth botany he quickly was taught the plants he can and cannot grow. There was a list of illegal plants, this of course, was devised by his father and grandfather because they didn't want people making toxic plants or wasting water on unnecessary plants. He knew all plants on Mars would be necessary but the ones for aesthetic value only would collapse the colony because everyone would want them.  

He never met his grandfather, but his dad explained it best, "Your grandfather brought these plants here to remember humanity. The smells, the tastes of Earth. It was home to him; he wanted us to make this our home, but he wanted an established colony, and he knew it had to have rules and bounds." 

Edgar, despite the law of the quota, had two brothers and a sister. His family were allowed more children being the descendent of the beginning colonist. But Edgar, knowing what happens to the dead, how the dead fuel the society, wanted no part of making more people. He really felt like this is not the place for humans to be and wished to leave since he was child. This was something which could never happen, his generation's bodies would not withstand the gravity of Earth. 

Growing up was not necessarily bad for Edgar. He loved the plants and took to it very well. Both his brothers went off to serve in the mines. One of them was reckoned, chosen for committing illicit acts. He had fathered 3 children outside the law of the quota, with different women, he wasn't married. The family was shocked, but his death saved him and made him a hero instead of being punished and put to death as a forgetting. Reckoning victims are always made the hero along with their killer. The other brother lives in colony 4 with a wife and one child. He does not talk to Edgar. 

Forgettings are people who are lost to the colony. If they do not follow the rules, they are erased as they cannot serve a purpose for the colony. This includes people who are repeatedly cheating on spouses, having offspring with more than one person, taking rations that don't belong to them, mistreatment of others (physical abuse), and theft of anyone's property. Smaller, and more insignificant things that can still get people in trouble: Perfumes, growing rare flowers, having clothing that is too bright or showy, having a surplus and not sharing, not working on designated tasks, and avoiding work in general. Some of those things can get a person sent to the mines. 

Edgar struggled with perfumes and had an entire secret closet of plumeria. He rationed off water for his gorgeous flowers and knew being caught with them would be punishable by the elders. He also knew the colony survived because of his ideas and what his family had put forth here. A little gamble for Edgar, but everyone has something they gamble with, Edgar's was for humanity. Beauty. Why survive when you can thrive?