The New Change
2090:::Earth
Have you ever wanted nothing from life, nothing except happiness, the kind of happiness you got from being with people you love, that, and peace of mind. That was exactly what December Blake and her sister, June Blake wanted. To be able to reunite with their parents.
Today was the day, not the D-day, no, it was just the day June Blake, and December Blake, and everyone else in this training facility was allowed to speak to their family at Work Heaven. They did this only once in two years, when it was free, so she only had only spoken with them six times. They each had fifteen minutes, thankfully they could both combine their time, and spend it at once, still it was not enough, but they were content. They never fought like those other kids from the rich families that spoke to their parents every other day, they never argued. They sometimes cried, and a lot of times laughed, they were happy with each other, and December could dare to say that they loved each other, something a lot of other Extras could not say about their parents.
She was unable to sleep the whole night before; she had used the time to complete the paper on complex relation of economics and management, and started her other assignment on organic chemistry, she hated the darn course, but she had to submit something. Today however was one of the two days they got completely free, so she wouldn't let it bother her.
She got up from her sleek, single blue bed against the wall of her room that was completely white from the ceiling all the way down to the floor, the room was made to fit not more than a reading table that was fixed at one end to the wall, and a clothing rack, where all her leathered, skin tight, toxic proof jump suit hung. She picked the black one with a thin white strip where her waist was, it allowed her to wear the cloth easier, and it looked good.
She put on her protective boots, a thick thing that was at exactly five inches above the ground with an allowance to insert cooling pads, which she had already done the night before. The grounds inside the sleeping rooms of the training establishment was always cooled down by the facilities they fixed underneath it when they were building this place, but those sort of tech cost a lot of equipment, so the other areas don't have it. The ground of earth was at least a hundred degrees hot, which meant without the shoes, her feet would burn off. She put on her face mask a white bio-engineered fabric that looked like tiny little scales that was designed to look like the ancient Egyptian face covers, and it covered from her nose all the way down to her collarbone.
She stepped out of her room, straight into the monitor room, that was just a little programmed space, only big enough to contain one, which was programmed to check that she was dressed properly. If she was, then the door to the passage would open, if she wasn't, then she had to go back inside and fix whatever error the monitor detected.
Since she was dressed properly, the door to the other side opened, and she practically ran out.
There were five main sectors in this facility, there was of course the sleeping area, where she had just left, then there was the class rooms, it was the largest area, with not less than five hundred fully furbished classrooms, constructed tocontain not less than three hundred students, and twelve practical rooms for each subject that required practice, for courses ranging from chemistry to culinary arts, today was only one of two days that the class rooms were closed.
Then there was the eating area, which was where she was headed to. The space, like every other sector in this establishment was classified into batches of a four year gap; currently there were five eating areas that contained exactly fifteen thousand seats. Unfortunately, June was a batch before December, which meant they ate in different rooms, but that didn't matter today either.
There was also the bath region, which was mobile, and came every once in few months, from Work heaven. Both the bath sector and Work Heaven was none of December's concern at the moment, she however was very interested in the recreational center that was at most times closed.
But today it was open for everyone to use, for the given time of course. She was nervous, and excited of course, how could she not be, she was only twelve the last time she had seen her parents.
Still she ate slowly, making sure to chew each spoon full of her rice porridge bowl with great precision before she swallowed, then she would repeat the process, all over again while staring straight into her sisters dining area, which was only separated from hers with a thick, solid tinted glass wall. They had agreed tomeet at the recreational center after breakfast; it was their trick for entering at the same time.
June stood from her table, so December stood from hers, leaving her food half eaten, the two nodded to each other, then headed towards the door, exited their individual dining area at the same time, and walked in quick fluttery, giddy steps to the recreational center.
June entered the monitor room first, and after she got scanned, December entered. Once she made it through that door, she practically ran to hug her sister. June caught her, spinning her around till they both got dizzy, they were giggling, loudly, but they did not care in the least bit about who they were disturbing, or who found it offensive, to them, the world does not matter where family is concerned.
June dropped her little sister, the only solace she had during the times when she felt down, and it was not yet September so she couldn't speak to her parents. But as she grew older, and the tasks she was given by the programme grew, she had not had time to speak to Ember. Her hair had grown fuller, she noted. Ember had gotten their mothers kinky hair, but they still had the fair skin and their fathers green eyes in common.
"I didn't know you'd be wearing white." December said, now questioning the choice of color she wore today. "I would have worn white too if I'd known." She added biting her lip, a habit the siblings shared when they were nervous, or bothered in the slightest bit.
June giggled; she did love her beautiful sister. She hugged December again, knowing that if things went as planned, then after today, she wouldn't see her again for four years. "Let's go in." She said, and together the two headed into the call room.
Scanning both their identity cards, a thirty minute timer appeared on the large wall-sized screen, along with the image of their parents. "Hello parents!!" The siblings shouted at the same time, it was either that, or their mother bursts out in tears.
"My little angels." Henry replied with as much enthusiasm as his daughters.
"We are not little any more father." - June said- "I'm already an adult, and will be at Work Heaven before tomorrow ends, and even Ember is almost as tall as I am now." She finished with a bright smile.
Isabel let out a whimper, she could not hold her tears for much longer, she had missed the many years in the lives of her children, years she wanted to be in so badly. Henry hooked a hand around her shoulders, gumming her to him, and his other empty hand he filled with her hand.
He formed a smile. "My little angels are not so little anymore. We can't wait
It took five minutes off their time to calm her, and when she did calm down she tried convincing June to change her mind. "Life in the lower class was harder than it seemed." She said, but June would have it no other way, and instead changed the subject.
The time hit thirty minutes, and the screen turned black before they could say their goodbyes, but it was okay, at least for June she only had to wait one more day to see her parents, December on the other hand had four more years, and she was about to cry.
The two sisters spent the rest of the day together, until they were mandated to return to their rooms. The next morning, an officer of order knocked on Ember's door, and the doors of every other person that was meant to go to Work Heaven in the next four years, and they showed them to their new rooms, and their new schedules.
Her sister was gone, she was all alone now, but in four years she would join them, or so she thought.
:::
A year later, a public announcement was made, and everyone, on Earth stopped all their activities to watch as Adolph Grey took the mike and began to speak.
He fixed his white suit, and smoothed out his already perfectly gelled hair, then he cleared his throat. "Good evening the entire people of Work Heaven, and the Extra residents of earth, as we all know, there are certain, threats, which are capable of endangering our home, Work Heaven, one of these threats is overpopulation. The threat of over population has started to become more real, and if it is allowed to come to pass, then we should consider the entire human race extinct. Therefore, some drastic measures must be taken, sacrifices must be made. In the words of the Earth's presidents so many years ago, the weak limbs have to be cut off, and as much as it hurts me to announce this, I still have to. - He paused for a few seconds, checked the time on his watch, then began again to speak. - In the next thirty seconds, all residence of the lowest class, will, be let off the ship. That will be all." He finished, and his screen turned black.
"What does he mean off the ship?" December turnedto ask basically anyone that had any sort of answer for her, and she wasn't the only one asking, but while she was confused, those that knew had their eyes glued forward, and others were just speechless.
The screen came back on, and the lowest class district was now on play. The camera moved through the street showing the faces of worried , panicking, angry people that were shouting something that could not he heard. Then the camera showed the face December longed to see, June, in the embrace of her parents, and before she could even speak, before even her heart was given the opportunity to pump, the doors to the district was opened, and everybody , and everything was sucked into space. The screen went blank, and December felt her head hit the ground.