Chapter One
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
The mall was specifically designed to deaden sound, and the shopkeepers went on shopping regardless of the interruption.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice persisted. "Units and unettes!"
A young man stood on a bench, a microphone pinched between finger and thumb, scanning the crowd for any sign that he had been heard. Crouched by his side was a girl, dark hair shielding the impatient expression on her face.
Just
use the feed.
He turned his attention to the whisper deep inside his head, and glanced down to find his companion gazing insistently up at him. He frowned.
"No," he replied out loud. "That's exactly what we're fighting against."
It's
the only way they'll listen.
He ignored the girl's feed message and raised his voice once again to the crowd.
"Units and unettes! Resist the feed! We are the Coalition of Pity." He raised his arms, fingers spread. "Listen to us! Hear what we have to say; the feed is taking our minds…the minds of you and your children! Where's individuality now? When was the last time we thought for ourselves? Before the feed! Join us and help us destroy the feed…before it destroys us!"
He quivered with the anger his speech had surfaced in him, and yet not a single head turned in the bustling crowd, although several brushed by just inches from where he stood.
See!
Their ears don't hear; only their minds. The girl fed to him
again. Use the feed. Broadcast what you want to say!
"No!" The young man yelled, and was instantly glad, for once, that he was being ignored. "Don't even suggest that! There's only one person in the Coalition stupid enough to try that, and it's not you!"
He pocketing his microphone and jumped down from the bench. He stood in front of the girl, clutching her shoulders, their faces level. "We can't talk about it here. We should go. There's a Meet in an hour."
"Okay." She spoke aloud for the first time, after a pause. "You're right. Again."
Gratefully, he clasped her hands with his and, smiling, led her into the midst of the milling crowd.