Chapter One

Chapter One

 

Where am I? It was the first thought that came to mind. But the thought had no voice, no sound, no vibrations"just a signal that said incoming thought.

But it wasn’t really a thought at all. Human thoughts had voices, made imaginary sounds in your head. It was like speaking to your self but silently. There"then"I heard no voice. It was just a flutter of words rolling across my brain.

Surely it couldn’t be considered a thought.

But I was distracted as I was thinking all of this. Something in my feeling had changed. What am I doing?

Then the word came to me. I was moving. Moving"why am I moving? I didn’t know who was moving me or why. Maybe I’m moving myself.

But everything was a blur; a misty blur. I couldn’t tell what was going on. I could hear something now. There were noises"beeping"like a heartbeat on a hospital machine. Was it my heartbeat? Did I have a heartbeat?

The concept of life seemed unreal; like a dream. But to dream, you must live. Am I alive? Maybe I’m dying. But I didn’t feel pain. Just numbness.

It was as if I had no body, just soul and mind.

Maybe that was all that was left of me.

Maybe that was all that was left of anyone.

 

-          -          -

 

I stared up at the clouds in the very blue sky. They looked as if they were strokes of white paint across a blue canvas, created by a true artist. It was beautiful.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I turned around to see my father standing on the porch, leaning against the railing that lined it. I planted my feet on the step below the one I was sitting on and hugged my knees. “Definitely,” I told him. The fresh spring air smelled of flowers and fresh cut grass. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and my parents and I would sit outside and watch the sunset and later, sit under the moon and stare up and the stars speckled across the black expanse of sky.

Everything had been simple then. Back before They were invented and manufactured. Before our race had decided to better themselves.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Dad said, sitting next to me on the first step.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Dad.” I put my feet back on the ground and kicked a stray pebble. My world seemed to be falling apart. Not just my world, actually. The world in general was tearing at the seams. Technology was he enemy. “Why does everything have to be improved? Humans were meant to stay in their form, not turn into these Things that they’re becoming. Our race can’t seem to grasp it.”

“Don’t talk as if all hope is gone, April. There’s still Mom and Annie and you and me. There are the rest of the people in Sector Four. A good portion of us wouldn’t trade in our human bodies for any indestructible artificial body. No matter how much They say it “betters” us. You should know that, April. Don’t worry,” Dad said.

Even though what he said was mostly true, it would be over soon. The rest of Sector Four would give up and give into what the new millennium had to offer. It would happen someday"someday soon. And we’d be alone. Us against Them.

That was the way it was now and how it probably would be for a long time. Just us against Them.

 

Memories came rushing back to me. Some were from only a year ago and others when I was a young child. They were all painful to remember, now that it was all gone. My life had been striped bare.

But I needed these memories. And these were the real ones that penetrated me. It felt as if I were there again. And then it was over. But a new one would start. And this happened until I remembered everything.

Yes, it was definitely painful.

 

“Listen to me Jade. Please. There’s a way to stop this"a way out. I don’t know it will work but we can only try,” I heard him say. My eyes were wide as I stood on the steps, staring into space while I eavesdropped on my parent’s conversation.

"What about the kids? If we do this, what happens to them? There is no one I trust to leave my children with. No one!” My mother hissed, practically shouting the last two words.

I flinched at her tone. What are they talking about? I thought.

“This is for them. Would you rather have them sucked into this too? Think long term, Jade. We won’t be gone for long and if we don’t do this soon, we could unwillingly become one of them.”

“I can’t believe you and your conspiracy. Maybe “They” are right for this. Maybe we should willingly join them and not for the reasons you want to.”

“What has gotten into you?” I crawled farther down the stairs to get a good look. My father’s face was shocked and outraged.

“I should turn you in,” my mother’s whisper was almost inaudible but I heard her nonetheless.

“Jade!” My father held his hands up in exasperation. Mom turned away from him and started to walk toward the stairs. I scurried upstairs hurriedly but not before I heard my father say: “What have they done to you?”

 

The house was silent. Annie was asleep but I was wide awake, staring out of my window. The flashing blue and red police lights were fading, along with the sirens. The following silence seemed to echo throughout all of Sector Four.

I was alone now. Completely alone. All I had was Annie whom I’d vowed to myself to protect. Small and sweet Annabelle was sound asleep in her bed. She had no idea what had just happened.

She had no idea that our parents had been taken.

I walked into their room; my silent footsteps making the house seem eerie. Anyone walking into their room would never have suspected that they’d been taken. The bed was made and things were as neat as they ever got in our house.

They could have just run out for some coffee. The house didn’t reveal any signs of capture against their will. Well, not to anyone but me.

To me, trespassing and kidnapping was written all over the walls. I could still hear my father screaming meaningless, rhyming words to me. Words of a song he’d once sung.

But then They’d taken out a needle. My father had gone limp, his scream-singing had ceased. My mother was long gone, probably to join Them.

For a moment, staring at the unscathed room, I could pretend that they were just on an errand. I could pretend that they’d come back soon.

But the moment passed quickly and I knew they were gone forever.

 

 

Time passed. I didn’t know how much but it seemed like a lot. That was how it was when the transfers were made. But in the beginning, I’d had no memory of what had happened. I’d forgotten where I was and why and everything that had gone on.

It was weird, not really being in my body. It was a hard, horrible choice but it had been necessary. I sat up, testing out my new white-silver made to look human-like hands. They were slick and thin in a robotic yet human way. The whole body was contradictory.

It was human-like yet mechanical and fake. The fingers and artificial muscles flexed and stretched like a human but in a tense and inflexible way. The face looked human and soft yet hard and robotic. Hair sprouted from a soft-looking artificial scalp.

I didn’t know what to consider myself. I couldn’t tell if my memories had been planted by Them"well Us"but it felt as if they were my own. I’d given them my body and brain and everything else. They could have tweaked with me and made it so that I thought evil thoughts and turned into one of their killing machines. I had no way of knowing. That had been the flaw in my plan.

But I couldn’t go back. What was done was done.

I remembered my parents and Annie and I knew that I had to carry out my father’s plan. For them. And for everyone else.

It was unavoidable. It was something that needed to be done. And I’d do it.