Chapter 4 - no place like home

Kids chatter in the background, a little Asian girl alone in the corner of what seems to be a children's playground.

The playground is surrounded by a series of buildings, one of the buildings seems to be a dormitory of some sort, while the others look like classrooms.

In the background stand the proud corporations' towers with their modern look and the multitude of colorful neon lights illuminating them. In contrast, the school looks ugly, the usual greyish color of the commons area.

A woman in her mid-thirties gets closer to the little Asian girl.

"Hi, don't you feel alone staying by yourself?" She asks the girl.

The little girl keeps silent, her head down, she seems to observe her own feet.

"You should join the others to play, you could make some new friends." The woman continues.

It seems like the woman is talking to the wall and she starts losing her patience.

"What's wrong with you? Are you mute?" She asks angrily.

No reactions from the little girl, she is completely ignoring the woman who turns away from her and heads toward the group of playing kids.

This is just another typical day for her since she has been abandoned by her parents at 4 years old. She cannot recall them, they are barely blurry silhouettes without voices in her memories. It's already been 8 years that she is an orphan, being tossed around to different orphanages.

This one is the same as the others, children of her age do not get adopted, they just eventually end up in the streets at age 18 and get recruited by various gangs.

She is already perfectly aware of the world she lives in, the corporations, the commons, and the ever-growing criminality. She doesn't belong anywhere, she often imagines that she isn't human, maybe an alien from outer space dropped by mistake on earth.

Her silence has been her safety mechanism for years now, anytime someone is trying to get close to her, she would just ignore them and pretend to be deaf and mute. Nobody cared enough to find out if it was true or if she was pretending.

A loud bell is ringing and every child starts to get in line. She slowly stands up and heads toward the end of the line. The other children pretend she isn't even here, they all start to walk inside.

They all get in a big room with lots of tables, the adults guide them to sit and order them to wait quietly. The little Asian girl sits alone and keeps silent, she knows the drill. Two adults go fetch the food cart that was in the corner of the room.

It's dinner time, the ritual is the same in every place where she has been. The cart is an interesting piece of tech that processes food from small capsules. The small capsules are placed in a hole at one end of the cart and it comes out as a full meal on a tray at the other end.

It takes about half an hour before the kids finish their meals, then they are allowed some free time, most of the children will head to the media room where they can watch movies on a big holo-screen.

After one or two movies they will be guided to the dormitories, children are separated by age groups to sleep. That night it was quiet when the cries of one of them started to wake the others.

Quickly the cries spread to all the dormitory, adults start to rush in.

"What's happening? Why are you all crying?" one adult asks.

"My tummy hurts very bad!" One of the crying kid answered.

"Me too!" Followed another child.

All the kids were suffering from bad stomachache.

"Probably some faulty food capsules." One of the adults says.

"Let's call the emergency doc to have them checked." Another one commands.

Most of the orphanages work with a group of ripperdoc who provides basic medical services for free. Some rumors say that some of these groups are Scavs posing as ripperdocs to harvest children's organs.

Pax was in his 30's, freshly out of med school with the ambition and the heart to change the world. Naturally, he was attracted by joining such groups, helping the needy.

He was always ready for such emergencies, after receiving the call he packed the necessary meds and headed to the orphanage.

"What's going on?" He asks the person who welcomes him as soon as he enters the orphanage.

"We think children suffer from food poisoning." The adult replies.

"Ok, shouldn't be too bad, gather the kids in a big room that I can check and treat them." Pax commands.

They gather all the children in several classrooms, Pax sets his equipment in a corner and starts to examine the first kid.

"Ok, yes, definitely food poisoning, not a big deal, I will give them shots, they will be fine very fast." He says after checking the first child.

The guardian adults sigh in relief as Pax starts to prepare the shots. Advanced technologies allow the synthesis of serums rapidly thanks to a common Meditech device called Viratech.

Pax activates the Viratech and begins the synthesis process.

"How many sick kids do you have?" He asks.

"About thirty ate from the same batch of capsules, the other kids seem to be fine." One of the guardian's answers.

"That's good, but you guys need to be more careful, you are all they have in this world!" He complains.

The guardians do not dare to add any words. Pax injects the serum into the first kid who gets better almost instantly. He spends the next hour treating all the kids and synthesizing serums.

When he is almost done he notices the little Asian girl squatting in a corner of the room. In a rush, he goes to her and kneels in front of her in a very caring way.

"Hey, little princess, can you show me where you are hurt?" He asks her in a very quiet and soft voice.

The little Asian girl raises her head, her eyes are drenched in tears.

"Here." She replies while pointing at her tummy.

Pax grabs his examination device and scans her.

"Same thing." He exclaims while grabbing the little girl.

She doesn't fight it, she hugs Pax very tightly and whispers to his ear. "Please, take me with you." He isn't sure he heard right, he decides to ignore it for now.

He sits her on a chair, grabs a vial of serum, and readies it for injection. The little girl stops crying as the pain in her stomach goes away.

While he finishes injecting the rest of the kids, he notices the little Asian girl hasn't moved. She is still sitting on the chair starring at him with a desperate look on her face.

He recalls what she whispered to his ear, he gets closer to her and kneels in front of her.

"Listen. I cannot take you with me, my life doesn't allow me to take good care of a kid. But I promise I will come to visit." He says while looking into her eyes.

She keeps silent and stops starring at Pax, her eyes aiming at her knees. Pax feels a pinch in his heart as he stands up and turns away from the girl.

Slowly his silhouette fading away, the little girl is alone as the darkness grows thicker around her.