The Ones Who Waddle Away from Dorelus

This story is inspired by the work “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin.  A journalist in a utopia goes to visit the source of the city's happiness but comes out with more knowledge than he would’ve wanted...

The Ones Who Waddle Away from Dorelus

Johnny groaned as he entered the central hub of Dorelus. The city was it’s typical bustling self, people moving from place to place, engaging in their daily routines, only stopping to wish their friends a good morning. Each of them were dressed in perfectly ironed, pastel clothes, the fashion of Dorelus that since the Arrival had been widely accepted as the best way to enjoy it’s consistent temperatures and selection of cultural activities.

Those activities were, to many outsiders, childish in the extreme. But then Johnny did not envy the so-called maturity of the tourists who visited the place. They had not lived here since birth, not experienced the joys the city brought every day. There were no labour tasks to be done, everything was handled by machines, spirits of the city that had emerged following the Arrival. Johnny grinned as he imagined what he’d do that afternoon, the playground and the ball pit that he’d be bouncing around in while robot caretakers watched on.

He’d dressed in a pair of shortalls and a bright pink onesie today. It was as close to formal as any outfit in this world. Maybe he’d wear a t-shirt and shorts for a wedding, but his favourite casual outfits were all nicely fitting, all flannel and all of them allowed for easy access to the diaper round his waist. There were no toilets in this city. There used to be, museums where college kids would go to learn about the world prior to the arrival contained such specimens but no one outside of extremely well learned academics knew how to operate them. There was no need to, after all the diapers were easier in every way. Incinerators destroyed the used ones for fuel, while the caretakers seemed to be able to whisk new ones out of thin air.

But for now, Johnny focused on the little side job he’d taken. Johnny loved to write, it was his passion. His spelling was excellent, unlike many of his peers he was able to write words longer than six letters long with the correct letters and legibly onto paper for others to read. It had taken twenty four years of going through the various stages of his daycare before he was eventually accepted into a college. He’d had to write like a big boy that day, the robot caretakers had been trying to tell him he didn’t need to but he was never one to listen to them when it came to his imagination. So now, he was a paper writer person. He knew there was a longer word beginning with J, but no one really remembered that anymore. Journ… Journyliss? Something like that, not that it mattered. There were many little papers like that in Dorelus, a page long and covered in drawings and writing pieces by college kids. He was proud whenever he saw what he’d written sent out to the daycare by the delivery bots, and now he’d had a big break.

Walking down a set of stairs in the hub, he made his way over to a counter on the lowest level. A robot was outside, cleaning and checking the walls for the regular scribbles the population liked to leave around during some of their more hyper moments. He gave his diaper a quick squeeze. Still dry, so at least the robot wasn’t going to pull him to one side and delay anything.

“Hi there! I’m here to see the Source!”

The robot, a small floating drone with a few beeping lights and spindly arms, scanned him and flashed a few times. It was checking him, seeing if he was telling the truth, seeing if he was wet or messy. That was the job of every robot, it kept everyone clean and honest. Some kids did lie but the robots were quick to let them know that wasn’t being good. No one got cookies at daycare for lying.

“Clean and happy Johnny! You’re a good boy!”

He grinned at the robot, his perfect white teeth glimmering a little in the light “Uh-huh! I gotta have a talky-time with the Source!”

The robot scanned him again. This time Johnny knew it was checking to make sure he was registered for college level tasks and that he could see the Source. Both should’ve been confirmed by the central hub, being a paper writer person was a top job!

“Such a clever boy! Remember to be good in there!”

The door opened, bright lights leading down a long corridor that had a huge metal arch towards the end. This was a big deal, he was going to be able to see what made this world so happy and get to have talky-time with it!

“Thank you! I’ll be back soon!”

He waved at the robot, which blinked in return before returning to its cleaning duties. The population loved those things, they were always around for them and always willing to help them out, and Johnny was no different. As he walked down the corridor, his eyes strained with the brightness of the lights, their whiteness unusually sharp rather than the normally muted coloured lights that adorned the rest of the city.

When he walked through the arch he looked around. It was a big white room, tiled from one end to the other with sterile and shining porcelain while the walls were padded with what looked like duvets from his crib. They were clearly soft, almost cuddly looking, but still they gave off a strange air, like they weren’t designed to provide safety. Rather it was security, like the bars of a crib, something to keep something inside it.

He gazed towards the end of the room and found his mouth opening with shock. A figure, curled up around some bright pink restraints, was at the end of the room, thin and virtually naked. The only item he was wearing was a diaper, thick to the point of absurdity that was clearly soaked to capacity. The figure groaned as Johnny approached, lifting his head to look at the new visitor.

“Oh… Hello. Who are you?”

Johnny felt a familiar warmth around his crotch. He was wetting his own diaper, a feeling he wasn’t used to was coming to his head. Fear, distress… whatever it was it was alien to him but his body knew one way to respond.

“I… I’m Johnny… I’m a paper writer for…”

“You’re a journalist?” the figure interrupted, clearly a little confused “Guess that’s all they’re sending down here now, since they stopped the field trips”

“Field trips?” Johnny tried to grab his notebook from his shortall pocket along with his pen and little recorder. All were bright plastic colours that wouldn’t look out of place in his daycare, but he had these things for years and they’d never failed him yet.

The figure leant back against the padded wall behind him and smirked “Yeah, field trips. They used to send kids down here to “See the Source!”. Was a big deal until I err… couldn’t take it anymore.”

Johnny tried to get all of it down but was struggling. Words were constantly misspelled as he wrote, trying to remember how to even describe what he was feeling or what he could see.

“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. Sit down, the floor is pretty comfortable.”

Johnny obliged, sitting crossed legged in front of the figure who’s identity he wanted to confirm.

“You… you’re the Source?”

The figure nodded “Yes, but my name is Paul. Paul Rhodes” he rubbed the front of his diaper “so call me Paul from here on out alright? Got enough annoying references to my status from those robots”

Johnny just responded with a nod, continuing to try to write in his notebook as he listened.

“I thought it would be like an elec...electric thingy? Like… a power plug?”

Paul laughed “The Source? Nah kid, if it was just a power thing they wouldn’t need me down here.”

“They?” Johnny responded, instinctually.

“Your government. Your err… big kids? The ones that own the robots?”

Right, those people. Johnny didn’t see them much, only the very biggest boys got to be up there and they stayed at the top of the hub.

“So… why are you down here?”

Paul sighed “You really want to know, kid? Once you do you things won’t be the same”

“What do you mean?”

“How much do you know about Dorelus? How it works, why you wear diapers, why I could ask you how much fifty-two plus eighty-four is and you’d never give me a right answer?”

Johnny went to respond but the last question caught him off guard. Those were big numbers, only college kids who did big boy maths learned those, not someone like him.

“Are you a big kid? You seem super smart!”

“Well thanks Johnny, you’re at least good at flattery” Paul responded with another chuckle “When I arrived, no I wasn’t smart. Since then, well, I guess I’m the smartest person alive”

So the Source was the smartest thing in Dorelus? That made sense, Johnny thought.

“I thought you powered the robots. They keep telling us that they’re only here because of the Source, and The Arrival.” Johnny managed to splutter out the words, his brain working as fast as it could “So… you arrived?”

Paul nodded, his face a little grimmer “Yes, I did. But again, I need to warn you, what I’m about to tell you isn’t just “for big kids” and you’re not the first “paper writer boy” to come down here. None of them came back to see me again once they got the answers.

Johnny was taken aback. He could still sense that feeling of fear, like he was about to do something that would get him into trouble. But he couldn’t leave now, this was too important, too big, too… interesting.

“Tell me! Please Mr. Paul, tell me about it!”

Paul moved himself towards Johnny, his diaper drooping low towards the ground, the leak guards pulling away from his waist. He was in desperate need of a change, that much was clear. Why hadn’t the robots done that yet?

“Ok Johnny. If you want to know, pay attention and listen” Paul stared at him intently, his eyes glistening a little as Johnny felt another spurt of pee enter his diaper.

“You were born into the world of Dorelus not as an infant, but as you are now. To you, you remember being small, helpless, a tiny baby. But these are memories from even longer ago than you think. Before my arrival, before Dorelus became what it is” he pressed a button behind him, a bottle of milk emerging from it “You might want to drink something, don’t worry it’s just your typical breast milk”

Johnny took it and had a swig. Sure enough it tasted like the standard drink of the city, no added syrup like he wanted normally, but the sweetness was clear.

“Dorelus used to be a city of big kids. They all wore fancy clothes, they all wandered around working in the jobs the robots do now. But one day, I visited, running from another place far away. I brought robots with me, like the ones you see now, and those big kids loved them. But there was a catch, they are connected to me. They cannot do what they do unless I am alive, and they cannot perform their tasks without some guidance from me.”

Johnny’s mouth was going agape and he knew it. This was the story of a lifetime! The information straight from the Source about the Arrival.

“But your big kids, they found one of my robots and took it apart. They learned how to build more. But they still had to connect to me to work, they needed to know that I was safe before they could do so for others. But what constitutes “Safety” to those robots is… broad. I need housing, food, water and hygiene care. And one day I woke up here with one of them at my door, one that was provided with food, milk and diapers. That was it, just enough to keep me “safe”. Meanwhile your big kids built more and more robots, connecting them to me as I sleep. I know they sometimes slip sleeping medication in my drinks. They might even do it for you sometimes, even if you don’t realise it. The point is, I know there are two-thousand, four-hundred and fifty robots in this city serving various roles and performing various tasks.”

Another big number. That sounded like a number even big kids might not know. Were there really that many robots?

“But… the robots are kind, gentle. They care about me and other kids” Johnny responded, his voice trembling a little.

“They do, just as they care about me. The difference is that you were slowly taught to rely on them, slowly taught to forget about anything before my arrival. Those memories of you as small, helpless? A baby who couldn’t even hold a bottle? Those are implanted or brought to the front of your brain, subliminally, hypnotically. Dorelus is the happiest place on Earth. It’s also full of babies”

“Hey! I’m a big kid! I couldn’t do this without my big kid papers!”

Paul giggled under his breath “Right… of course. OK “big kid” what’s a potty? Can you tell me that?”

Johnny thought for a second “Yeah! It’s the thing… the thing.. Like the museum thingies! We don’t use them anymore…” a thought began to click into Johnny's brain. Paul noticed his expression change.

“I can see that little spark. You’re surprisingly smart actually. Some of the kids who came down here needed a bit of a slower explanation. You used them before I arrived, before you were made into babies, docile and happy and easily managed by the robots. You were much, much smarter then. I bet you don’t even realise you're filling your pants right now do you?”

Johnny went to say something but his teeth suddenly snapped shut as a cramp hit his stomach. Normally he’d not mind just using his diaper like this, but he felt strangely wrong. Like he should… should have felt something.

“It’s alright. Trust me, I’m used to it now as well. The robots don’t change me until I’m err… messy.”

Johnny pushed, trying to empty his tummy before continuing with the interview. The mass quickly settled under his rear as he went back to sitting cross-legged, smushing it around to try to get more comfortable.

Paul grimaced a little at the display but cleared his throat and continued “So when you write your interview with me, as others have done before, what do you think you’ll say? That the Source is a big kid, the smartest kid in the city?”

Johnny nodded “Ye...yeah. I want to make sure everyone knows about the big kid stuff we used to have! Like potties and stuff!”

“And do you think anyone will be able to read it?”

Johnny went to answer but then found his mind interrupting. No, no they wouldn’t be able to. Reading at the level he wrote at was for big kids… and big kids already knew about the Source and the Arrival. He might make more people come down here but that was it.

“You know, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last to do this. I’m virtually immortal, kept alive by the same tech that works my robots. Cellular regeneration and such…” Paul realised the words were getting a little long for Johnny to understand “I can’t die. Durelus will remain as it is. But you won’t”

Johnny’s eyes went wide “What… what do you mean?”

“You know about me now. Do you think what’s happening here is right? A good thing?”

Johnny could feel anger, like when he didn’t get a favourite cookie. But bigger, stronger “No, no it’s not right at all!”

Paul moved back to the wall of his cell “Then when you leave, I know you won’t come back. Durelos works for people in blissful ignorance of it’s truth. Or those who accept the truth as necessary for the greater good. You, on the other hand, are like others who’ve come before. You’ll leave the city, a diaper bag in hand, and you’ll walk away from Durelos. Where you go, I have no idea. But the world is a big place and Durelos is just one city.”

Johnny got back to his feet. He’d not written anything in his notebook for a while. The conversation was recorded on his device anyway but that wasn’t the point. He already knew he wasn’t writing anything when he got back.

“Thank you for your time” he bowed, instinctually.

Paul laughed “No need for that kid, get yourself a new diaper before you leak. My robot caretaker will get that sorted in a few minutes”

Johnny turned round, heading for the entrance to the cell. As he opened the door he looked back to see Paul, the Source, with a single tear rolling down his cheek. That feeling of anger resurfaced but he held it in. He knew what to do.

As he opened the door the robot on the other side greeted him, another customary scan starting up.

“Dear me, looks like we’ve got a little stinker! Come on, lie down and we’ll get you all fresh and clean!”

Johnny obeyed without a word or smile. That normally caring voice now sounded wrong to him. Like it was unfriendly, his enemy, something to escape. A few minutes later he was up again with a fresh diaper, his butt clean and dry.

“There we go kiddo. Now stay safe on your trip home”

“Thank you” Johnny whispered “Goodbye”

“Bye bye!”

That was the last time any of the robots in Durelos would change Johnny’s diapers. The next day when his office expected him to send in an article, they found his room empty. The robot that checked on him each morning registered him missing, but he was on none of the cameras in the following days.

He had walked away from Durelos.