Most died within four to six months of catching it. Men could be carriers, but it was women who were felled, quickly and inclusively. Gifted as she was, Fairuza could do nothing about the Virus, which morphed from a rare strain of HPV into a fast-spreading cervical cancer epidemic.
And with luck we’ll be able to go on living here for generations to come.
It keeps us hidden from the men and their scanners above ground. Our refuge is made of reinforced concrete and radioactive-proof metals. We both chose the name Panah, a Persian word that means ‘sanctuary’. We had a small window of opportunity to come here, before they widened the restrictions on international movement to include domestic territories as well. Here, Fairuza and I are the queens but we toil for a purpose totally at odds with the way nature works.įairuza found the old map in the Geoscience archives and together we discovered this bunker. When I was in school, I learned about ants, the workers, sexless drones marching in and out serving a glossy and beautiful queen. It gives us some measure of beauty in our underground colony. If there’s a god, may he bless Fairuza’s Persian ancestors for coming up with the idea of a garden meant to recreate paradise on earth. Panels on the ceilings absorb and process it into soft artificial sunlight that lights up the garden year-round. Its murmurations delight us, the quiet whispering of the grasses and plants, the bushes and pygmy trees releasing natural, not synthesized, oxygen. She’s used all her skills to nurture this garden, divided into four quarters, lined by waterways, a small fountain bubbling in its centre. I like to sit on a bench at the far side of the garden with a cup of tea warming my hands.įairuza’s a brilliant biochemist. It’s best at night, when the others are out with their Clients, and the garden goes into nighttime illumination mode. The Charbagh is my favourite part of the Panah. Bina Shah’s SFF book Before She Sleeps is a feminist dystopia that draws you in before you realise it.
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