I woke up to a small zap to my ear, coming from my ear piece. The zap didn’t hurt much, but It was enough to wake even the deepest of sleepers. Man! I could really use a snooze button right now. 16563 once told me that two thousand years ago people had things called alarm clocks that made an annoying noise to wake you up rather than the small zap of ear pieces. He told me that they had a button that was big, and near the top that turned off the alarm for 5 minutes. It didn’t have much purpose other than to allow businessmen to procrastinate starting the day a little.
“That sounds like a foolish way to be late to school or work every morning.” I replied to my friend at the time, but now it didn’t sound like a lousy idea.
As I looked around, I realized that I was still in the car from last night. My neck was sore from the bizarre position it was resting during my slumber. I rubbed my eyes. It felt like sandpaper. probably left my contact lenses in again. I climbed out of my small black automobile. I had a horrible taste in my mouth.
Darn all this pollution. Stupid atmospheric… Pollution! I thought
The car didn’t have any air pollution filters when it was turned off. My car was black, but of course all cars are exactly the same, black, in order to not cause jealousy. The only car that wasn’t black or part of the 1360a module was The Overlookers car, which was yellow, so people would know if he was driving past. I guess that they weren't thinking how big of a target that would make it for the rebellious filth. I wandered back into my house and shut my black, silent door behind me. The hinges were well oiled so creaky doors would never annoy anyone. And black, because almost nobody had emotions and it was an easy color to produce. I put on my military outfit, combed my jet black hair, and stuck my teeth cleaner in my mouth for a second. I saw a flash of bright blue light emitting from the LED display, and removed it from my mouth. 63 had once told me that two thousand years ago, it would take people at least two minutes to clean their teeth, and another minute to do something called flossing where they had to put a thin piece of string in between each individual tooth and sometimes it made your gums bleed. I felt awful for them. He also said that if you didn’t brush your teeth often enough, then you had to visit what’s called a dentist, and they would spend an hour or two drilling out your tooth and filling it with white material. He said he thought that it would have been extremely painful. It sounded too weird to be true, people getting their teeth drilled out of their mouths. He must have made it all up just to give me nightmares.
“How did you learn all these things about two thousand years ago?” I asked him.
“Our family has had a device called a laptop passed down from generation to generation, and I keep finding interesting information about the twentieth and the twenty first century from it.” He had stated.
“Is that even legal? I asked, are you allowed to have items from the past? Wouldn’t that inflict jealousy?”
“Normally, yes, but we’ve had it cleared with the government. My parents are historians, they get paid to make sure we don’t make the same stupid mistakes that made civilizations of the past fall.”
“Wow,” I replied, a little surprised, “laptops are not to different than our contact lenses.”
“It was based off the same technology but today instead of pixels, we have shapes caused by bending light into our eyes. That way if we look closer it still looks the same. It doesn’t get blurred out or dotty like what they had. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same.”
“They had more technology than I thought. By the way, how much time do you spend staring at that laptop?”
“I actually don’t spend that much time looking at it, most the information I’ve learned from my parents. Well I guess they wouldn't be parent’s to the standards of 20th century. Now days they're more like temporary guardians. I mean, they change every year.”
“Are you saying that 20th century parents were permanent?”
“Yeah, isn’t that crazy?”
I didn’t really believe him. The thought that you could stay with the same adult’s your whole life was absurd!”530Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ADtorNQmt
I shook off the memory and hopped back in the car.
“We’re off to work” I told my earpiece.
“We’re a bit early today. Are you sure you want to leave at this time?” it asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, “Maybe I can talk to the captain.”
The car hummed to life. When I got to the base, I walked into the military’s main office Building.
“Lieutenant 42,” the captain asked as I arrived. “aren’t you a little early today?”
“I find that it is better to arrive early than to arrive late sir,” I replied.
He paused and stroked his military mustache. “Agreed. Especially for a highly trusted lieutenant such as yourself.”
“Thank you sir,” I replied.
“You wouldn’t want to lose your trust by arriving late would you?”
“Sir, no sir.” I acknowledged realizing that he was trying to make me feel guilty from when I arrived late last week.
“Well, the soldiers are arriving. You better get started before they get chatty.”
I remembered two weeks ago when we got a little chatty before work started and the captain made us all run laps until we were begging for mercy. Then he made us run two more.
“Attention!” The captain shouted. The whole army stood at attention and saluted.
“At ease.” The captain said. The whole army neatly crossed their thick arms in front of their stomachs and brought their left leg out.
“I’ve received word that there is a rebel fortress located at 17, 23, 12. We need to take it down. Keep all the rebels alive. We’ll imprison them and force them into telling us where the rest are located. Where’s Lieutenant 42?”
“Here!” I shouted.
“If you ever plan on advancing in the military you need to practice commanding squads. For today I’ll have you command squads 5 and 6. Am I clear?”
“Sir, yes sir!” I shouted. “Should I man the copter sir?”
“Great idea 42. It’s no wonder they’ve recruited you for lieutenant.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Any more questions?”
“Sir, no sir!” The army responded
“Also, we can’t have any escapees this time. We can’t have them thinking that they can escape. Let’s say five laps for every escapee. Am I clear?”
The crowd started murmuring.
“Five laps?”
“Last time we had ten escapees, so that’s…”
“Fifty laps!” I could hear the crowd murmuring.
“AM I CLEAR!?!” the captain shouted.
“Sir, yes sir.” We all shouted back.
“Then move-out you lousy piglets! MOVE OUT!”
“Sir, yes Sir” we shouted again.
I got into the helicopter. “Take me to 17, 23, 12” I told my earpiece
“On it” the helicopter's AI replied. I could feel it tapping into the copter’s GPS and its steering. We took off fast. I was surprised how fast the copper moved.
“Sir, did we happen to upgrade the copters? They seem quicker than usual.” I asked the captain through my earpiece.
“Yes” the captain affirmed. “We’ve upgraded to the H-2000. It’s much faster, and more durable than the old H-1500.”
“It also feels a lot smoother, sir” I informed the captain.
“Keep your head in the mission and stop blabbering on about the new copter.”
“Yes sir.” I said.
By the time we got to the rebel base’s coordinates it was midday and the sky had completely cleared up. I noticed a bird flying in the air.
The bird reminded me of the first day of education level four. Our school was close to the border of district 16, so 63 and I attended the same school. On that first day we were supposed to learn about how animals work. Our teacher decided to take us outside to find an animal. There happened to be a bird flying across our school’s property.Our teacher asked me to take down the bird so we could study it. I apparently was the best aim in my grade, probably because I often played catch with 63. I looked at the ground, and found a big, round, rock that reminded me of a softball. I picked it up and threw the rock as hard as I could. I hit the bird right in the chest. The dazzling blue bird plummeted to the ground. The impact flattened him. I was quite disturbed. Soon after, they started to dissect and study the beautiful feathered creature. I felt horrible for the bird. I thought about it’s life. I thought about his family. It was too much for me to take. My throat felt thick when I saw how badly damaged his insides were. I tried to choke down my emotions. I felt a tear coming down my face. Quickly, I tried to wipe it off. I knew that no one else could understand. I looked at 63. I saw him bury his head in his hands. I wondered for a brief moment if he was also feeling sadness. I noticed that a few classmates were acting similarly. I looked around for a second, then I briefly noticed that all the students that were covering their eyes had been born the same year as me, and the students who were born a year before didn’t seem to react. This was my first year of education four, most students took each education level twice that way we would have one year to learn information, and the next to become perfect in those subjects. My teacher looked at me and noticed my tears.
“Why are your eyes wet?” he asked apparently not clear about the way emotions worked.
“I washed my eyes in the bathroom.” I lied. I didn’t want him inspecting me closely. It made me feel very uncomfortable.
I hated crying because of memories, so I decided to get my head back into the mission.
I told my earpiece to land the helicopter. It landed a half centimeter to the right, of the landing position “Will that be good enough for you sir?”
“Good enough. Everyone out, out, out!” I called out, as I hopped out of the copter.
I checked the surroundings. The base was a typical rebel base. It looked like a small house in a regular neighborhood. Technically speaking, it is a regular house, but rebels live in it, so it’s, called a rebel fortress. The lights were off, and the area seemed a little quiet. Too quiet…
“Doesn’t it seem abnormally quiet for the middle of day, sir?” I asked the captain.
“Now that you mention it, yes it does seem a little quiet. Everyone approach the base with caution!” The captain commanded.
“Sir, yes sir!” We all replied back.
“Forty-Two will be the first to enter the base!” The captain shouted so everyone could hear.
“Sir, yes sir!” We all shouted back.
I took a step toward the base with my stun gun in my hand. I paused to listen a moment. Nothing.
“Come on, get moving 42,” The captain declared.
I took another step towards the front door. Stop. Listen. Nothing.
Someone shouted at me, “Come on already! We don’t have all day to sit around!”
I walked up to the door and knocked. No reply.
“You don’t need to knock 42!!” The captain shouted at me.
Well it was worth a shot, I thought to myself.
I kicked down the door. It was dark, so I turned on my flashlight, and shone it around the entrance. The area was a bit dusty, as if no one had been in here for some time.
“It looks like no one has been here for a week at least!” I shouted out to the others, “I’d say it’s safe to come in!”
I heard the stomping of soldiers feet, as they headed toward the front and back doors.
“Find anyone yet?” The captain asked me.
“Not yet sir.”
For a brief moment, I thought I heard footsteps, but I soon realized that It was probably nothing. People tend to imagine footsteps or see things that aren't actually there in an empty room. It seems like our self conscious can get lonely.
“Well, keep on looking.”
I turned around, and headed for a staircase leading to the basement. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I pressed myself against the wall, in case someone started shooting. No one did. I peeked out into the room, and flashed my light in there. I didn’t see anyone. I stepped out. I realized that it was too late. They had all abandoned the fortress. DANG! I thought, Now we’re going to have to do a million laps!
* * *
“I decided to be nice.” said the captain.
The captain's never nice. I thought.
“I will only force you to do one hundred pushups because the base was empty when we got to it. But don’t expect me to be nice from now on. Am I clear?”
“Sir, yes sir.” we all shouted.
I returned home with a sore body after doing the required push ups.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
