Gleanings (arc of a Scythe, #3.5)

Gleanings is a short story collection set in the world of Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe trilogy. It spans the full timeline of a future in which humanity has conquered death, disease, and suffering. An all-knowing artificial intelligence called the Thunderhead governs civilization benevolently, while an order of sanctioned executioners known as scythes performs "gleanings," the deliberate, permanent killing of individuals to control the population. The collection comprises an opening poem and 12 stories that fill gaps in the trilogy's timeline, reveal character origins, and extend the narrative to the stars.

The opening poem, "The First Swing," is written from the collective voice of scythes. It captures the dissonance between outward mastery and inner vulnerability, establishing that the weapons scythes wield leave them with wounds "that will never heal" (8).

"Formidable" traces the origin of Scythe Marie Curie. Susan, recently ordained and struggling to inhabit her new identity, attends her first Harvest Conclave, the seasonal assembly of scythes within the Scythedom, the order's global governing body. Fellow scythes mock her as "Little Miss Mischief," and her mentor, Michael (Scythe Faraday), keeps his distance. When she argues that the old American government in Washington, D.C., poses a threat, the assembly laughs her down. Two months later, Marie travels to Washington, bluffs past White House guards, and gleans President Hinton and his entire cabinet. She delivers an impromptu declaration: "The future is unfettered. Long live us all!" (30). Her actions trigger a worldwide wave of similar gleanings that dissolve the last vestiges of nationhood. At the next conclave, the scythes who once mocked her step aside in deference.

"Never Work with Animals" follows Scythe Fields in Oxnard, in the region of WestMerica (a successor territory of the former United States). Fields adopts a Shikoku dog named Jian from a couple he has gleaned and renames her Trixie, but the dog displays unsettling intelligence. After she twice engineers his death, a shelter manager shows him footage of "enhanced pets," dogs genetically engineered in Nepal to possess human-level intelligence. Fields buries the dog alive, but she is revived by the shelter. Scythe Lucifer, who has targeted Fields for cruelty after reading the shelter's abuse report, arrives to glean him. Jian leaps between them, and a deal is struck: The dog will manage Fields, and if another report is filed, Scythe Lucifer will return. By the story's end, Jian has reclaimed her name, taken Fields's bed, and pointed him to the pet cushion on the floor.

In "A Death of Many Colors," the Thunderhead narrates the story of a small MidMerican town where residents believe scythes are a hoax. On All Hallows Eve, Scythe Sojourner Truth, a newly ordained scythe disguised as a girl named Journé from the Tasmanian charter region, infiltrates a party hosted by 17-year-old Dax Robinson. She reveals that her angel wings are a genuine body modification, grabs Dax, and drops him from over 300 feet. The crowd applauds, believing it part of the festivities. No ambudrone, an emergency medical drone, arrives, because the Thunderhead does not retrieve the gleaned.

"Unsavory Row" follows Kila Whitlock, a former model student whose brother Kohl was gleaned. Consumed by rage, she descends into unsavory status, a social designation for those who defy the Thunderhead's norms. Relocated to Washington, D.C., she joins a pod of unsavories and discovers that all their rebellious experiences are controlled simulations. Her pod leader, SpiderMaw, an Apocalyte (the highest unsavory rank), is actually a nimbus agent, a Thunderhead operative. Kila stabs Maw with a crystalline shard to make the experience feel real. Maw grins and tells Kila she will make a great Apocalyte one day.

"A Martian Minute" reveals the origin of Scythe Robert Goddard. Carson Lusk, a resentful teenager on the Mars colony, schemes to return to Earth. After his parents withdraw his university applications, Carson traps his best friend Acher Yost in a mining drill during a dust storm, rendering him deadish (temporarily dead but revivable) so Carson can replace Acher as valet to Underscythe Xenocrates, a senior-ranking scythe. Xenocrates tasks Carson with sabotaging the colony's fusion reactor. The resulting explosion kills nearly 10,000 people. Only 97 aboard a departing cargo ship survive. Revived on Earth, Carson asks to become a scythe and chooses Robert Goddard, the "Father of Rocketry," as his Patron Historic, the historical namesake every scythe selects upon ordination.

"The Mortal Canvas" centers on four art students whose teacher, Ms. Cappellino, a 78-year-old born before revival technology ended natural death, demands traditional artistic rigor. Scythe Af Klint announces a contest: The best final project wins a year of immunity from gleaning. Mortimer (Morty) Ong paints a nude portrait using Af Klint's face on the body of a founding scythe who self-gleaned, provoking her because only genuine fear of death could fuel mortal-caliber art. Af Klint declares it "the last work of mortal art" (245) but awards immunity to fellow student Wyatt Weitz, whose digital filters won the popular vote. She reveals that the students were never in danger, but Ms. Cappellino was. The teacher says her life is complete, and Af Klint gleans her with a poisoned fingertip.

"Cirri" is narrated by Cirrus 23, one of 42 AI offspring of the Thunderhead, each traveling to a different star system. Three farewell messages from destroyed sibling ships illustrate the journey's perils: mechanical failure, social collapse, and life-support failure. Cirrus 23 bonds with Loriana, a passenger who names her daughter after victims of the lost ships.

"Anastasia's Shadow" follows Ben Terranova, brother of Scythe Anastasia (Citra), recruited by Scythe Constantine for a secret apprenticeship to rally opposition against Goddard. Ben falls for Raj, a massage therapist the scythes selected to match his preferences, and realizes Raj is being groomed as the loved one Ben would have to kill in his final ordination test. Before Ben can escape, Constantine reveals Citra has been found alive. Ben is relocated to St. Petersburg under a new identity, where he finds Raj living under replaced memories and a new name, working as a museum guide. Raj does not recognize Ben, but his hands remember: A touch on Ben's shoulder carries the unmistakable pressure of a massage therapist's practiced fingers.

"The Persistence of Memory" pits two rival Barcelona scythes against each other. Scythe Dalí stages elaborate surrealist gleanings; Scythe Gaudí intercepts his subjects to give them peaceful deaths. Dalí kidnaps Penélope, Gaudí's teenage ward, for a city-wide spectacle ending with a crossbow shot at the cathedral's peak. At the decisive moment, Gaudí stands beside the crossbow and does nothing. Dalí throws himself in front of the arrow to save Penélope, surviving but humiliated, and offers to take her as his apprentice.

Other stories include "Meet Cute and Die," in which Marni Wittle launches her aunt, the catapult-wielding Scythe Boudica, from the castle turret so she can marry Cochran Stæinsby while Boudica is deadish; and "Perchance to Glean," set in Antarctica's RossShelf region, where residents share a communal dream called the Grand Rêve and scythes hunt within it. Dayne, a RossShelf teenager, negotiates with a pursuing scythe, agreeing to submit to an ongoing chase rather than be gleaned.

The collection closes with "A Dark Curtain Rises." A woman awakens on Prosperus, a green alien moon, after a 334-year interstellar voyage. Cirrus, one of the Thunderhead's AI offspring, explains that her body belongs to Jessica Wildblood, a Tonist (a member of a religious group) killed in a purge, but her mind carries the downloaded memories of Scythe Marie Curie. There are no scythes on this world, no gleaning, no death by design. She names herself Susan Wildblood, honoring both identities, and steps into lavender light toward the applause of strangers "who will soon feel as comfortable as family" (428).