984 (Complex Series, #2)

Chapter Four

Her words send chills down my spine. The people in the Unknown die too quickly as it is. Will I be dead soon? How quickly is ‘quickly’?

Miranda takes a deep breath and sits back at her desk. 

She offers me a tight smile. "Let's cover some more...neutral....content, yes?"

I nod. It’s clear Miranda isn’t the person you try to argue with.

My heart begins sinking. There's no way out. I will never see Brinn and Sienna again. 

Tension still hangs in the air from our argument. Miranda pulls open a drawer on her desk. She takes out small object she lays it on the desk. "This is a Notice.”

A thick black strap dangles from her fingers. A circular screen sits in the middle, surrounded by a couple of buttons.

"Hold out your arm." Miranda commands. I obey and put my hand out in front of her.

She twists the cold, hard strap tightly around my arm. "The Notice will stay tightly wrapped around your arm through magnetic force, so you will never have to worry about it coming off. If you want it off though, press this small button here." She motions to a button where the strap overlaps itself.

"The Notice will show on the screen what the hour is. If someone sends you a message, it will make a beeping noise and you can press this button here," she motions to a green button on the side of the screen, "to view the message, it will come up in hologram form. If you would just like to view the words on the screen, which is much harder that hologram form, but more private, you can press this button," she points to a blue button on the other side of the screen, "and the words will come up in sections on the Notice."

"The Notice is waterproof and easily cleansable. The battery is actually powered through your pulse in your wrist. . If you want to type a message, you press this orange button and a light keyboard with be projected right in front of you, so you can type and walk at the same time. You can leave your Notice on your wrist at all times, even when you're sleeping. In fact we encourage you to, because each Rivie gets one Notice, no replacements. You have more of a chance of losing it if you’re constantly taking it off and on. They’re our main form of communication, it’s important that you keep it safe.”

I’m not sure if I followed all of it. I’ll figure it out over time. Miranda has one wound tightly to her wrist too.

Okay, Notices out of the way, let's move on to daily life. For now, you will stay with Charlotte and explore the different kinds of Pros in the Unknown."

"Wait," I interrupt.

Miranda's eyes flare slightly at my interruption but she doesn't say anything, "Yes?"

"What exactly are Pros?"

Miranda relaxes, "Sorry, I forgot for a second that you had Charlotte as an R.I. Pros is short for profession. Here you get to choose what your Pros is and if you want to change Pros, you will be able to. Charlotte will show you a different Pros every day. You’ll learn a lot more about the Unknown through these sessions, than anything I can teach you in just a few hours. You will be in the same bedroom as Dana for now, if not permanently.”

She adds, “Just because you were roommates in the Complex doesn't mean you will be close to someone here. A lot of times people just grow apart. Dana can teach you more about daily life, you will stay with her the rest of the day, and tomorrow you will get started on Rivie business."

She pauses. The information is starting to get mixed up in my head, but I force myself to focus.

"Now, let's talk about the people in the Unknown. First of all, boys and girls do mix, although you are telling me that have already mixed. Men aren't dangerous of course; it's just the Heads' propaganda. People in the Unknown vary tremendously. There are people who aren't totally loyal to the Heads, but are still too terrified to say anything. There are people who are loyal to the Heads and perfectly obedient, those people are here in the Unknown through a mistake. Then, there are people who don't care either way. Some people enjoy the freedom of the Unknown and are happy like Charlotte. Others become dreary with the work. How you are going to respond to this is entirely up to you."