The smell of bread was what gave people hope; however, it also showed their need. The very first few small portions of Vat-Bread were distributed, but the queue that people had formed outside the old refinery kept getting longer and longer. It didn't take much time for the news to spread out the blight was being turned into food! The fight could have come out of the very strong hope that was felt.
Maxine was observing people who were trying to get in the vat-room of the huge building. However, on her side she considered them only as numbers, not as individuals – people required calories vs. energy spent. The calculations were still not correct. They were still facing the problem of producing the bread slowly and that each vat yielded too little. They had solved one problem out of the way. Now they had ninety-nine more to deal with.
Right beside her and being all nervous Lucien was quickly browsing through the information on an old tablet. The thing that we need to do is increase the speed of our production so that we can meet the demand. Also, the frequency has to be at its highest, i.e., all the vats should be affected simultaneously. However, we have also taken every single crystal that we found and there are still not enough of them.
Then Leo Vance said stepping out of the shadows that we need more if we want to continue. The crystals can be considered as a mixture of rock and fungus. We are able to produce them. However, it requires a nice place. A place where the god-stuff is not too strong or too weak, but... is still open.
He was staring at Maxine. The Pancreas. Though it is not functioning, it is still living. It used to change things softly. It might just be a crystal garden.
Indeed it was just an idea as crazy as one could imagine. How about changing an old sugar-maker into a place for growing their tools? Maxine agreed with him. Sure, let's do it.
However, the food queue got noisy as she was turning away. A man, who was very thin and seemed to be ill, was screaming. He pushed a young Symbiote who was distributing bread forcibly. It's not enough! It's dirt! I can feel myself dying! Give us the real stuff! Just a little Karu! Just a little taste!
The Symbiote, a boy named Kael (not Maxine's old helper, but the same name), was standing up for himself, however, his shirt had been torn. There is no Karu. It has been used up. This is the end.
I want the Echo back! the man shouted, staring with his eyes wide open. At least that was something! This is just... nothing!
The people who were waiting in line started to agree with the man. The sickness had turned them empty, but for several years, the god's dream had been filling their souls. Now they had nothing. Bread was making them feel full, but not inside.
Naomi, however, came between the man and Kael. She didn't speak about food. Instead, she talked about what he had lost. You are missing the god-taste, she said, being very clear and without her usual imitation voice. Me too. It was great. However, it was killing us. This... she pointed at a piece of bread, ...is what we are making. It tastes like us. It is full, but different. Harder.
The man looked at the bread, his rage turning into confused sorrow. He took the bread, trembling, and left.
It was a sign. They had prevented the end of the world, but now they had to face a bigger problem: the meaning of it all. They had been addicts, and the god was their drug. The process of getting clean was hurting their souls just as much as their bodies.
Bianca arrived with Rhiza from the Maw. She could see it in the people's faces. They are sad, she told Maxine and Naomi. They have lost their creator, their reason, their everything. We gave them a job and some bread. It's not enough.
What would be, Naomi asked, with her shoulders dropped.
Community, Rhiza said, while looking around. Something bigger than just eating. The fungus grows because it is all connected together. Everyone has a job. Your people have only had one job for years: eat. Give them new ones.
It was simple and smart thinking. They had all just been eating before. Now, they had to become a team.
That day in the afternoon, the council was holding a meeting in the vat-room instead of the Citadel. It smelled of bread that was being baked and of hope. Maxine was speaking of the crystal garden. Lucien said that they needed to find the leftover god-stuff if they wanted to make more supplies. Leo and Rhiza were saying that they could spread the fungus through the city to not only purify the air but also to heat the homes.
And Bianca came with the most far-fetched idea: Open the Flavor Library to everyone.
There was complete silence after that.
She went on to say that it was not just a food book anymore. It was about the functioning of a god's body. Let people learn it. Not to cut it up, but to know it. To be doctors of the world, not butchers. Let them help in taking care of it.
It was somewhat like giving everyone the keys to the god. Scary, but maybe good.
The old council members were arguing about what was right and what was wrong.
The only risk at the moment is being unintelligent, Lucien was saying. The god is ill. The more we know, the better we will be able to help not only the god but also ourselves. Knowledge is not just for a few people anymore. It is for everyone.
They made their decision. Not everyone were in favor of it, but the vote was in favor.
The following day the Flavor Library was accessible. Not for worship, but for learning. And people came, they wanted more than just food. They were looking at the illustrations. They were listening to Lucien and others explaining the working of the god-body. They were not learning to eat. They were learning to understand.
At one corner Benny Rhodes was sitting with children who had the gift of hearing the Echo. They were not being instructed to close it, rather they were taught to listen to it, to be on the lookout for changes in the god.
A new sound was coming from the city: people talking and learning. They were cooperating in order to figure things out.
They were no longer just sitting at a table.
They were taking care of a broken world.
And their real work was just starting.