Silos of Man

Chapter 13 - A difficult Journey Back

Joan knew why she'd been summoned, which made the long drive back to Section 31 far more torturous than it ordinarily was.  She'd really only made it a handful of times.  When she left for school 30 years ago, 2 sections away, she only stayed that close because she had fallen in love with someone in her home town during the school year before graduation, and couldn't bring herself to move further than a two-days ride away.  Sadly, the distance still caused the relationship to wane, but at that point Joan was too settled in Section 29 to be interested enough to try somewhere further - and it was still far enough to lose contact with her mother.

Her mother was old now, and was ready to go and Joan wanted to feel sad about it, but didn't, which felt worse.  She grew-up in her mother's shadow and is periodically reminded that she owes her current position as a Public Representative to the Fourth Science Council , to her.  Her mother's fame, or infamy, depending on who you speak with, revolved around her outspoken Anti-Cure views.  Dylan Dwyer is now synonymous with the Anti-Cure movement, due to her outspoken views on the danger and dysfunction inherent in the Y-chromosome's genetic expression. 

A renowned and accomplished Bio-psychiatrist, Dr. Dwyer senior, essentially reinvented treatment programs for criminals with dysfunctional behaviour, although those people became rarer as her career progressed.  Dylan grew-up in a post-Unravelling world, in repair.  She was twelve years old when The Transition started and obtained her post-secondary education right in the middle of it.  It was during this time, with the technology that was emerging fast and furiously as a result of global human freedom to learn, express and originate, that Dylan, pinpointed exactly how a person who is born with typical brain chemistry and functioning, can become dysfunctional and/or dangerous.  This led to massive studies on child development, and essentially created a structure for parents and educators to create open-minded, big-thinking, ethically-centred, self-confident and communally-responsible people.  The world started changing immediately.  Once the world's children were taught empathy instead of apathy, equality instead of hate, questions and not just answers, and most importantly learned to equate success with contribution rather than personal gratification, it was only a matter of two decades before massive strides in global human success was evident.

Joan's relationship with her mother was strained as far back as she could remember.  She always wanted more from her mother than Dylan was able to give.  The heartbreaking thing about Joan's story, is that her mother was one of the foremost experts on raising successful, healthy children and therefore societies, but couldn't apply this expertise to her own child.  This was because Dylan devoted more of herself to her work than to her daughter, and was never interested in changing that. 

It's not that Dylan didn't love, Joan, she just loved her work more.  Joan was born because Dylan felt it was her duty to help keep the planet populated.  She had the biological ability to procreate and no interest in a partner because she was bonded to her work.  As a result, Joan had some great nannies, some of whom she was still currently in touch with, but there was never really anyone in her life for long enough while she was growing-up, with whom she could become securely attached.   

Joan spent a great deal of her teens and early twenties quietly rebelling against her mother.  In contrast to her mother's Anti-Cure sentimentalities, and despite the flood of information about the dangers of re-introducing males into society which was regularly discussed in Joan's home environment while she was growing-up, she decided at about 17, to turn her interest in medicine, into a search for The Cure. 

Although she proved herself to be a remarkable scientist, advancing The Cure efforts substantially over her twenty-year career, she could never get higher than a Public Representative with the Science Councils.  The two interviews she took for a seat at the esteemed Fourth Science Council, and another interview for a seat at the Third Science Council were not fruitful.  Both times, she was passed over for another candidate, one of whom Joan knew to be less qualified than she.  In all three interviews, Joan sensed an undercurrent of ambiguity and cryptic questions, many of which were centred on her position and understanding of The Cure and the return of males to the planet.