It wasn't enough that all the subdivisions were surrounding and infiltrating the gutters, all of the citizens have to be on high alert, which means that they had to be on compensatory release, everyone has to be in control of their own actions, but with a small part of their programing left inside of them. Maybe I should run this by Mr Hiram?
"Good evening Mr Hiram."
"Good evening Mrs Shade, is there something I can help you with?"
"I want to put the compensatory release on the city, do you approve?"
"The compensatory release, what is it needed for?"
"I'm going to take over the gutters." There's a moment of silence and I'm expecting him to turn down my request.
"You have the go ahead, take over the gutters. But what will you do with the population?"
"Flush out the mutants and have them recruited what is left will either join their fellow mutant occupants as agents for our department or be eradicated resolving our problem completely and permanently."
"I have every faith in you, good luck, High Superior." I can almost feel the power behind my title as its purpose begins to swell into something bigger than myself, New Zion will persevere and excel beyond its name, by my hand and soon I will rule it as well.
I will go directly to the membrane department by the bullet train because all of the agents' vehicles as well as mine are under repairs. I cannot believe the time and effort that it's going to take to get done with this mission, a mission that should have been completed a decade ago. Finally the doors open and I walk directly to the agent waiting for me.
"I need to be at the membrane department yesterday, don't hesitate, use the time drift gear if you must, just get me there faster than you can." The driver hesitates and looks at me in his rear view mirror.
"I'm sorry, but I 'm not allowed to give transport to any of the agents from your department."
"Excuse me, you are also a part of this department and you have no right to stop me from reaching my destination." The contempt in my voice is near a violation of the law.
"I'm sorry agent, but that was the order from our High Superior."
"Well in that case, you are allowed to take me to the membrane department, because I am the new High Superior." I pass my new identity card to him so he could read it for himself; I can't help but feel smug by asserting my authority on someone else. I can see his ears going red.
"I'm sorry High Superior."
"Take me to the membrane department now."
"Yes High Superior." Inside my mind I'm purring like a sublime feline, High Superior is a name that no one will ever be able to resist, they are not worthy so much as to gather the crumbs beneath my table. He went into the time drift gear; and then into g-force throttle, in a blink it looks like everything around me has just disappeared and in the second blink I'm at the membrane department. I put on my identity hologram brace, a large but light metal ring that goes above my elbow and I put my identity card in the slot of the ring. A hologram of my head appears then my barcode and my name of rank below it, everyone wears their hologram brace in the membrane department, it's because the membrane department is the one place where discretion is vital. The front desk is crowded by enquiries, but I only need to make a loud ahem and when they see who I am they step aside, I am so important. I stride surely toward the front desk and speak to the attendant with a hint of polite assertiveness and self-confidence.
"I want a direct and private audience with the head of this department."
"Would you like to book an appointment?" She stammered, I'll repeat myself for the first and last time.
"I said direct, which means now."
"But I don't think he has the time to…"
"Then he will make time for the High Superior. Can you not see my identity hologram; you are looking at the new High Superior. That's why everyone stepped aside."
She looked flustered and so afraid of me, I would be afraid of the High Superior as well. Every High Superior begins to develop a massive ego and a terrible temperament that goes with it, but I swear I'll never become a malevolent dictator. Aggression is forbidden and against the law, but the higher you go up the political ladder the more transparent these laws become and the powers that be will do anything to maintain Zion's peace, ask me I should know by now. Within a day I have been able to do almost everything that hasn't been accomplished in ten years; and this mission requires force.
"I am so sorry; I will inform him right away."
"You do that." I like the look of the building it has a clean and classical feel to it, it appears to be simplistic but there is so much activity happening here.
"He said he will be with you right away."
"Thank you." It took him less than a second; he's a strange looking man almost like a typical minion for a mad scientist.
"I don't have time for niceties and I don't have the luxury to waste time. I need you to put every mind into compensatory release." I know I sound a little abrupt and rude, but what I was trying to do was show my assertiveness, now he's probably intimidated by me.
"Can we walk and talk so that no one has to over hear our conversation." He asked me, oh my word the common rule is to never stay in a public area while talking about anything confidential. All I could do is nod and we had our conversation as we walked towards his laboratory.
"We don't know if it will work, we've tested the finished program on ten people, eight out of ten people were successfully released from their Utopia programing, they gained seventy percent of their independent brain function, the other two showed positive results as well but their release percentage went up by sixteen percent. One was an artist and started drawing pictures."
"So what, every programing allows creativity?"
"He was drawing historical places, events and organisations; things that should not be remembered from the ages before Zion was created. The Golden Gate Bridge, The White House; Independence Day, Women's Day, Youth Day; WHO, Green Peace, Animal Rights Society; all of them were destroyed by the Zion's command and then all evidence of the past was wiped clean of everyone's minds and those are just a few. An artist was one of the ten people we tested and he was beginning to break free from the Utopia Program, we tried to put him back on the grid but by then he had gained full consciousness so we had to put him down."
"Estimate how many people out of fourteen million that I will have to "put down" to release everyone else successfully with discretion."
"Seven hundred thousand people, give or take. The factors of success are influenced by the given situation."
"What kind of situation are you referring to Doctor?" I can feel my temper begin to rise again, I stop and count to ten in my mind, now I can carry on with the pretence that I don't want to strangle this short repulsive looking man.
"If someone gains full control of their mind, or breaks the law intentionally in front of others, more people might break free from their programing from the shock." Time is ticking and this man is wasting mine.
"I'm sorry Doctor, but I don't want to hear any more excuses, release the program or I will find someone who will." He looks so shocked, dumbfounded for a man whose IQ is two hundred. A typical cliché, a stupid genius who is the first in history to create software that can manipulate track and alter the mind and body on a molecular level within less than two hours at the age of twelve; but he still cannot follow a simple order from someone who is obviously above him.
"Yes High Superior, if you would please follow me." We stepped onto a slim hover platform that took us directly to the membrane, the one and only living computer that could control every function of the system by a verbal or mental request. It was supposed to be the only one of its kind; and I'm quite sure it is. It looks like a massive digital tower, circuits and nitrobyte electricity passed through them like neon battery acid. The room is full of female workers but I don't really have the time to worry about them, besides they work with for the Zion like the Doctor and I.
"So this is the membrane?"
"No that is the host, where the membrane is stored, they are the membrane." He said indicating to dozens of beautiful women clad in silver cat suits that have the occasional transparent wire or circuit woven into their suit shining through the material because they are also pulsating with nitrobyte electricity. I didn't even notice their looks, they were just people doing their jobs or enjoying their breaks (unlike my agents who take their work more seriously) and they all looked exactly alike, there were a few circuits in different parts of their bodies, but besides that nothing made them look different from each other.
"They are the membrane?" I'm staring at them right now, a hologram emanating from one's palm while another woman was talking to her; they were discussing what they were seeing in the hologram; two others were sitting on a glowing couch riddled with circuits and inlets talking casually. One woman was drawing with a micro pen on a hand held plasma screen; another woman was busy writing a list of words on a large plasma screen that took up most of the opposite wall at such a speed that it made my eyes hurt, each sentence was absorbed instantly; one is smiling brightly as she walks non-stop on a treadmill at a constant speed; a woman is smiling and petting holograms of pets, the one standing next to her is holding a hologram baby in her arms; the woman next to her is a woman talking sweetly to a smiling hologram child; another woman is holding the hand of a hologram teenage boy slightly younger than herself the next one held the hands with a man about her age that looked similar to the teenager and lastly a woman was sitting next to the hologram of an old man smiling. So many of these women doing so many things, interacting in so many ways acting playful, parental, adult like; the list goes on.
"Why are they doing all of these things at random intervals; and what does all of this accomplish?"
"They are portraying the behaviour of everyone in the society, are they nott?" They were practically doing what normal people would do on the outside world.
"Yes they are, so they represent normal people?"
"They are more important than that; they are performing and downloading the Utopia Program into the minds of society. Each one of them act the way we want the citizens to act and react, our Pandoras are the mind of the system.
"Is that what you call these women?"
"Actually, it's the name that came from the Memory Box, their mother and the first of our membrane living computers. She gained a mind all of her own, but she is completely dedicated to Zion. She has sacrificed herself twice two protect our president and the ministers of Zion from two undercover attacks from the gutters; she erased all the files, but none the less she is the most valuable asset of the membrane system." Okay this guy is beginning to sound a little too attached to his work.
"Right, so which one will activate the compensatory release?" He doesn't hesitate this time, which is very good because it shows that he understands my authority. He takes the ID card out of his brace and puts it into a slot in the "Host" a metal slide moves sideways and he puts his hand on the scanning plate. After the scanning laser analyses his palm and finger prints a word flickered onto the screen, affirmed, then he called Pandora 12 to help him by putting her hand on the scanning plate, after her hand is scanned the screen says affirmed as well. He turns to me with a gesture that says 'it's all yours now', surely not…?
"You want to scan my hand?"
"Only a High Superior or an executive can unlock the last encryption, so if you want to begin the compensatory release you have to let the Host scan your hand and finger prints." I don't want to look uneasy in front of this man, it's one thing to have it on a card and a hologram; it's another thing to have it confirmed by the mainstream system. I nod with a cool and deliberate smile while I take my place in front of the scanning plate, I can feel my heart stop for just a while as my hand inches closer and closer to the screen, and my hand was pushed forward, or pulled by an unknown force with mediate impact on the scanning plate. I begin to worry, as it takes more than a minute for the scanner to check my hand and finger prints, then the force that held my hand down released its grip and I quickly pulled my hand back, a green word flickered on the screen, affirmed. The panels of the huge machine began to fold into thin walls that separated empty containers that could fit an entire body; all of the Pandoras stopped what they were doing, except for the Pandora standing in front of the plasma screen who continued to write away. The Pandora's walked towards the host and climbed into the compartments, the panels closed and the compartments were erected. The Pandoras' bodies were released from the compartments on the inside and they were pulled into the glowing centre of the huge machine, disappearing immediately.
"Is it done?"
"It is, the one that's standing in front of the screen is the Mother Box." She turned and looked at us when he mentioned her name. She looks human, completely in every sense of the word, soft blonde hair tied into a braid, bright blue eyes and skin with a fading tan.
"I have decided that my name should be Betty, as it reminds me of Beta." Her voice doesn't have the same tone as all the others, her voice sounds human. A blur of images flashed through my mind all at once competing to get my attention, but I shut them out just as quickly as they had come.
"Betty, what a lovely name." She smiles at my compliment and turns her gaze to her work again.
"Betty is a nice name, but I always pictured her as a Caroline."
"Not likely, my mother in laws name is Caroline."
My head is throbbing, is this a headache? I've never been sick in my life and that includes having a headache, it's so foreign and unpleasant. It feels like something is softly and slowly tapping my skull with a sledgehammer, I say something and not someone because it is grammatically incorrect; there is not a human in all of Utopia that could inflict pain on another human or any animal. So why is my head in so much pain? I have to go to the hospital, I'll ask David to take me to there as soon as possible, what if this was a serious brain disease, what would the agency do without me!?
"David I'm fine, I just want to know if I've got a headache or not. I'm at the office; you're already on the way? That's great I'll just ask one of the maintenance to lock up after me." I hear two soft footsteps and in a second I've pulled out my gun.
"Whoa now, I'm just the maintenance." The lights went on and I see that it's just some a girl wearing the maintenance uniform, so it's all clear, nothing to worry about yet I still feel a little hostile on the inside.
"I'm sorry High Superior." She said hesitantly, I'm beginning to grow tired of my new title; in fact I'm beginning to feel very tired.
"It's fine, I have been on high alert the entire day so I'm a little on edge."
"Once again I'm sorry, you don't have to talk to me, High Superior, I can understand that someone as important as you needs to spend her time on better things than talking to a member of the maintenance staff."
"No it's fine; and since it's not office hours you can just call me Catherine.
"Yes Ms Catherine…Mrs Catherine Shade?"
"Yes, do I know you?" I ask, back on high alert and my shooting hand slowly and casually slips into my pocket, she fumbles trying to reach for something in her pocket, a real assassin would not waste this opportunity; she pulls out a notepad and a pen from her pocket.
"I am such a huge fan, I have every article about your missions, how you put the bad guys away and keep the city safe when you were an agent out on the field." Not only am I relieved, but I'm also starting to feel a little better this girl was a real pick me up.
"My niece wants to be just like you." I can't help but smile at this one, I can honestly see the admiration and happiness in her eyes.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment." She says almost tearing up, I click the pen and a bolt of nitrobyte electricity passes through my system. Everything begins to fade away and I can't move my body; in just a brief second I had a flash back of a moment just like this. And for the second time in my life, everything goes black.