A New World
As the fifth and final alarm for the electric shuttle went
off, I stopped running. I had officially missed the only eShuttle to The
Factories. I was off to a rough start this morning; I woke up ten minutes late,
almost forgot to get my energy ration and then was the lucky recipient of a
random home sweep.
And now, thanks to that very home sweep, I was going to miss
a day’s work, which would potentially put me on a watch list for ‘not
contributing to the community’, I thought as I sat on an old bench. I sat there
for maybe a minute, thinking of what to do, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I
twist around to find a girl, maybe fifteen, staring at me. She looked terrified
and so out of place in what looked like 21st century clothing. After
all this time, yoga pants still did not look fashionable.
“Are you alright, Miss?” I ask her. In response, she opens
and closes her mouth, like she has something to say, but doesn’t know how to
say it. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. Not much surprises me these days.”
Maybe she believes that or maybe she wants to see if it’s true, but whichever
it is, she tells me.
“Do you know where we are? I just woke up, but I don’t have
a clue as to where I’m at.”
For as confused as I am, I try to give her the best answer I
can. “You’re at the eShuttle Ramps in the Central Sector.”
Somehow, she looks even more confused. “What country am I
in?”
Just how ignorant was this girl? How could you not know what
country you were in? “Um, The North Republic of America.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” she looks around, noticing things,
“What year is it?”
“2035”
Her eyes go as wide as I’ve ever seen and she gets this
really long look on her face. “Are you sure?”
I nod my head in response. This had taken a very weird turn.
She looks straight at me. “That means I’ve been asleep for
the last twenty years.”
Maybe I can still be surprised, I think, as I look around for
the surveillance cameras that The Leaders use to monitor the conversations and
general movement of the citizens. I spotted seven. This would complicate
things. If this girl was telling the truth, that would mean she would remember
before The Over-Taking and she would not be safe.
When The Leaders were notified of a girl in the Central
Sector claiming to have been asleep for the last twenty years, and they would
be, they would be fast to react… they couldn’t have someone among the sectors
would could potentially spread ‘Southern Republic propaganda’. Meaning, they
couldn’t have someone around who could spread stories of what America used to
be like. My best guess is that they
would question her, then attempt to brainwash her. And if that didn’t work,
they would simply get rid of her. I couldn’t have that. If she was telling the
truth, she would be safer in The Southern Republic of America. I was going to
have to smuggle her there.
If I was to get her there safely and without drawing alarm,
I would have to act like The Leaders would expect a ‘Good Citizen’ to. I would
have to convince the surveillance cameras that I was taking her to a local
authority. I just hoped that she was a good actor.
I stand up and gesture for her to do the same. “Come on. We
have to get you to the police.”
“You think they’ll believe me?” she asks as we exit the
eShuttle Ramp and head out to the sector.
“They might,” I tell her absentmindedly, still keeping an
eye out for cameras.
The Sector was practically an abandon town right now, which
was typical. Everyone was at their jobs, trying to get done what they could before the sun went down and the energy grid shut down, halting all work that
used up energy. But just because The Sector was empty, did not mean that it
wasn’t being monitored. Almost everywhere was monitored around the clock. And
it wasn’t just monitored by cameras; you had guards posted at places too. It was
a surveillance system designed to squash rebellion and free thinking, as well
as to keep the citizens of The North Republic of America ‘safe’ from the South.
We walked the rest of the way in silence. I think she was starting to realize
the kind of world she had woken up to.
The police building could have passed for a store; it was
small and out of the way. As we entered we were greeted by an officer stationed
at the doors.
“Good day, Misses. How do you need help today?” His face was
devoid of emotion, a professional requirement, but his voice gave away his
curiosity.
“I would like to speak with Officer Connors, please.” This
was the tricky part of my plan. If he didn’t cooperate, I’d have to go back to
the drawing board.
The curious officer leaves. A minute later, he returns with
Officer Connors, who gestures for us to follow him. He escorts us to a quiet
back room, which upon a further inspection reveals it to be free of cameras. He
looks between the two of us, waiting for one of us to start talking.
“I need your help.” I begin. “I need you to make it look
like you took her into custody. That she’s in the system and that in an hour,
she’ll be transported to another police building in a different sector. I need
you to make a long trail that would take someone looking for her a while to get
through.” By the time I finish, it looks like his has a headache.
“And just why would I be doing this? Tell me why I should
risk my life to help you with whatever it is you’re doing?” he asks in
exasperation.
“Need I remind you that this would hardly be the first
criminal act you’d be committing? I seem to recall walking in on you hiding
some smuggled goods.” This was the tricky part. If he called my bluff or
thought it would be better to accept whatever punishment came with The Leaders finding
out about his smuggling, over the possible punishment of helping me.
He runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head.
“Fine, I’ll do it. But after this, we are even. You can’t hold the smuggling
over me anymore.” I nod my head in agreement with his request.
“What’s your name? I’ll need it to put in the system.” He
asks her as he starts type things into the data base.
“Kate Sommers,” she says.
“Alright,” Officer Connors says after moment. “Everything is
in. I’m assuming she’s going with you?”
“No, not immediately. I’m going to leave like I turned her
over, then I’ll circle back when the day is over. You’ll need to hide her till
then.” If I was going to fool The Leaders about her whereabouts, it would be
much easier to get her out of the police building when The Sector filled up.
He stares at me as I get up to leave. “I'd get her a change of
clothes that fits in more with everyone else.”
I turn to Kate. “Hang tight. I’ll be back to get you. Then I'll answer all your questions.” Seeing her nod, I leave, trying to be as normal
as possible, to try to act like I’m not about to commit the worse crime of my
life.
While I wait for the end of the day, I do my own random
sweep of my house. I search my place up and down for bugs and cameras. I only
find bugs. They are quickly relocated to my bathroom, where it’s least likely
they’ll pick up on any conversations. It’s good that I live alone, because then
the quiet will not be reported as suspicious. I head back out to The Sector at
night fall. It looks like a completely different place. It’s full of people,
which is perfect.
Instead of using the front doors of the police building, I
go in through the back. I’m about to go find Officer Connors, when movement
along the wall catches the corner of my eye. Kate is scooting along the wall.
She has learned fast, she’s scooting along the wall with the cameras, actually underneath the cameras to remain unseen.
True to his word, Officer Connors found her a change of clothes. It’s just a
common overall. When she reaches the back door, she sees me and looks like
she’s going to say something. I put my finger to my lips. It’s not safe to talk
yet.
We make it back to the house quickly and without a problem.
“I’m sorry we had to jump thru all those hoops, Kate. It’s
just the kind of world you’ve woken up to.” She nods her head in response.
“You said you’d answer my questions. So here’s one. What
happen in the last twenty years?”
“Uh, a lot happened. Let’s see, you last remember 2015. We’ll
around that time the country started to go crazy. There was a lot of political
correctness, they started clamping down on free-speech and gun rights. The
younger people of the generation weren’t in the know, ignorance was bliss, I
guess.”
I pullout a stool and take a seat before continuing.
”Terrorism was on the rise. A lot of people got hurt or lost their lives in
bombings and shootings, things like that. Then enough countries got fed up and
they bombed the Middle East, essentially everywhere over there except Israel.
All that’s left is a big crater now.
“Around 2017, America had become a surveillance state. They
started arresting people for offending people.” Kate looks confused, so I
elaborate. “Say you said something completely un-PC. Like I say to you in a
private conversation, ‘that guy is going to Hell if he doesn’t change his
ways.’ The surveillance cameras pick up on it and I’m arrested for a hate
crime.” She nods her head.
“You can see that in action here. Only, you probably won’t
because everyone knows the punishment, so everyone just keeps their thoughts to
themselves out of fear. But, getting
back to topic, the surveillance state was what everyone thought brought about
the Second Civil War. This time, the South and the North never join again as a
nation. They’re completely separate, The North republic of America and The Southern
Republic of America. They’ve despised each other for ten years; I don’t think
they’ll become one nation again without a war or a revolution.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Honestly, the North is so power hungry that any peace
treaty is a pie in the sky. In the North, we have all the PC police, the
atheists, the climate change believers, the communists, etc. In the South, they
have the free –thinkers, the religious, they even still have a government
similar to the Founding era of America. And on top of all their differences of
opinion, you’ve got the dirty tricks. In an attempt to squash the South, the
North built dams on all the fresh water lakes and rivers that would go down to
the South. The North also, periodically, tries to rush the Southern guards
patrolling the boarder, in an attempt to get in and overtake the South. The
south has a good defense, though. And I’m not just talking man power, but they
create these videos about how life is in the South and how any of the
Northerners are welcome to it, then they somehow play them in all the Northern
sectors.”
We’re both quiet for a minute. All of this talk about the North and the South
was probably making her more than a little homesick and maybe a little
depressed, but depressing had been the last twenty years. And she had to know,
in this new world, ignorance could lead to a lot of trouble.
“What about technology? It’s kind of hard to believe there
weren’t advancements made over the years.”
“Yeah, that would be a correct guess. Even in the middle of
a ten year stalemate, both the North and the South have Tech Advancement
Centers. I can’t really tell you much about the South’s tech advancements, but
in the North we have all sorts of things.” I gather up my hair in a ponytail
and turn my neck towards her so that she could see the tiny scar, “Every North
republic citizen has a microchip implanted at the age of 6. It claims you as
property of the North. Sometimes they can track you with it, but it’s very
spotty, thankfully. They call it an ‘emerging technological advancement’. It also works as a
kill switch.”
Rightfully so, she looks horrified. “And people just let
that happen?”
I let my hair go and turn to face her, “The people are more
scared of what will happen if they don’t cooperate. They would rather live with
it in their heads than have whoever or whatever they care about deal with the consequences.
Would you like to see a cool piece of tech?”
She nods her head. I pull out the device from a desk drawer
and hand it to her. “That is called an IdentiScreen. It’s like those Apple
devices from before. But it’s also you’re I.D. You have to scan it at certain restricted
places if you want to get in. Another way you are monitored, but it’s still
pretty neat. You can keep it in your pocket and pull it out when you need it or
get a case that wraps around your wrist and just have it there like a watch.”
“Is it a phone too?”
I shake my head, “No. the only way you can communicate with
people is by actually talking face to face. Cell phone towers were removed
because they took too much energy from the solar grid, which is the only kind
of energy grid we have since it doesn’t harm the environment and uses a natural
resource.”
She sets the
IdentiScreen down and looks directly at me. “Why did you go thru so much
trouble to keep me out of the system? Why do you believe me?”
“You were too sincere to be faking it.” She opens her mouth
to object, but I keep on talking, “Trust me, in this world, you get pretty good
at judging whether you are doped. And as for keeping you out of the system,
that was all my pleasure. I try my best to cause trouble under the radar for
The Leaders… If they want something, I try my hardest to keep it from them. It’s
the least they deserve after labeling my brother a traitor to the republic and
then killing him.”
“I’m so sorry,”
“Me too,”
“It’s only a matter of time before they find out about me, isn’t
it?”
“Yeah, But you will be long gone by then. You’re going to be
safest in the South. You’ll be able to get help in figuring out how you were
asleep for so long and why, you’ll also be able to adjust to this world you’ve
woken up to without people trying to kill you. I’m gonna smuggle you there, it
shouldn’t be impossible, people do it all the time.”
She nods her head and asks a question, “Why do you stay in the North if you know how to get to the South?”
I leaned into the wall as I thought about her question. She was right, I'd had the opportunity to leave many times, but I never did. "I think I decided long ago that my part in this mess was helping others get to the South. I think I'd feel guilty if I did otherwise."
She nods in understanding. Then she asks one last question for the night, "When do I leave?"
“We should be able to do it tomorrow night.” I gesture to
the only piece of furniture in the main room, a couch. “You should get some sleep;
you’ll have a big day tomorrow.”
THE END.
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