Aunt Lydia installs surveillance cameras in her statue

Aunt Lydia installs surveillance cameras in her own statue at Ardua Hall, a calculated act of counter-intelligence that reveals her paranoid vigilance, her strategic cunning, and the deepening factional war among the Founding Aunts.

The Statue and Its Significance

Aunt Lydia's statue, unveiled nine years earlier, stands in a morose cluster of trees and shrubs beside the footpath in front of Ardua Hall. It is larger than life, showing her as younger, slimmer, and in better shape than she has been for some time, with a firm but benevolent smile and eyes fixed on a cosmic point of reference understood to represent her idealism and unflinching commitment to duty. The statue is crowded with subsidiary figures: a girl of seven or eight clutching her left hand, a crouching Handmaid at her right side, and a Pearl Girl behind her, ready to set out on missionary work. A Taser hangs from a belt around her waist, a weapon she views as a reminder of her failings—had she been more effective, she would not have needed such an implement. Over the years, votaries have taken to leaving offerings at the statue's feet: eggs for fertility, oranges to suggest the fullness of pregnancy, croissants to reference the moon. Aunt Lydia ignores the breadstuffs but pockets the oranges, finding them refreshing.

The Installation of the Cameras

Under cover of darkness, and with the aid of a stone drill, some pliers, and a little mortar patching, Aunt Lydia installs two battery-run surveillance cameras in the base of her statue. She is good with tools and replaces the moss carefully, reflecting that she should really get her replica cleaned, as moss adds respectability only up to a point and she was beginning to look furry. She waits with some impatience for the results, anticipating a fine stash of irrefutable pictures of Aunt Elizabeth planting evidence in the form of hard-boiled eggs and oranges at her stone feet in an effort to discredit her. Even though she herself is not performing these acts of idolatry, the fact that others are performing them would reflect badly on her: it would be said that she had tolerated these acts, and she might even have encouraged them. Such aspersions might well be used by Elizabeth to lever her off her pinnacle. She is under no illusions as to Commander Judd's loyalty to her: if a safe means could be found—safe for him—he would not hesitate to denounce her.

The Surprise Discovery

After several days of no activity—discounting three tearful young Wives who offered a muffin, a small loaf of cornmeal bread, and two lemons—what looms into the camera's field of vision just as dawn is breaking is the large red nose of Aunt Vidala, followed by her eyes and mouth. The second camera provides a longer shot: Vidala is wearing gloves, and from a pocket she produces an egg, followed by an orange. Having looked about her to make sure no one is watching, she places these votive offerings at the statue's feet, along with a small plastic baby. Then, on the ground beside the statue, she drops a handkerchief embroidered with lilacs: a well-known prop of Aunt Lydia's, from Aunt Vidala's school project some years ago in which the girls embroidered sets of handkerchiefs for the senior Aunts with flowers signalling their names. Having previously told Aunt Lydia that Elizabeth was trying to incriminate her, Vidala herself is now placing the evidence against her.

Strategic Implications

Aunt Lydia files away the photos for possible future use, reflecting that it is always desirable to save whatever scraps may come to hand, in kitchens as elsewhere. She determines to await developments. She considers that her esteemed Founder colleague Elizabeth must soon be told that Vidala was accusing her of treachery, and weighs whether to add Helena as well. She contemplates who is the more dispensable if a sacrifice must be made, who might be the most easily co-opted if the need arises, and how she might best set the members of the triumvirate eager to overthrow her against one another, all the better to pick them off one by one. She approaches a turning point, reflecting that the Wheel of Fortune rotates, fickle as the moon, and that soon those who were down will move upwards, and vice versa.