Falling Cities

V-e-r-i-s

They have kept me in this room for an uncomfortable amount of time.
Ever since they removed my chip they haven't let me out.
And I've felt so strange. Good maybe, but weak and feverish and confused. But still in a very good way.
"Veris?" It's what they call us. Always have. I'm Veris, it's my middle name. My father is Argo and my mother is Zula. I don't even know their first names, but our last is Hallinger. First names don't matter anymore, it used to be a tradition to call someone by their first name. Now we keep them to ourselves. I suppose names have too much power, and too little use to us now.
"Veris? Are you awake?" It's the female voice I've heard quite a bit lately. I wish I knew her name. She's not TIB. TIB's voice is gone from my head. I almost miss it, she'd be reassuring me at this moment. She always made me feel better when I was scared, she never filed through my private thoughts either. TIB was good.
"Yes. Why have you taken TIB away?"
"I'll explain it all Veris, I promise, just be patient okay?"
"Did I do something wrong? Did I commit a crime?"
"No! We just need you, you are very special."
"How so?"
"You survived the removal of TIB."
I shook my head. The blinding white of the room was giving me a headache. I wasn't in chains, so it wasn't a prison. There was a freakishly tall celling and no windows. A vent brings in fresh oxygen. A long rectangular mirror stretches high above me. They think I don't know what it is. I'm not stupid, it's one way glass. They can see me, I can't see them.
They speak to me, and sometimes show me images on the wall, a projector high above casts them there for me to look at.
Am I a lad rat? A test? A mutant? I haven't been able to see myself in a while. I used to have blonde hair and grey eyes. But now what do I look like? Did they change me? I've got very short hair now, like they shaved it.
Are my eyes still grey?
"Veris?" A panel in the wall opens and a woman walks in. Usually it's a different person each day, just to smile and bring me food and water. Today it's the same voice I hear over the speakers. "How do you feel?"
"Sick."
"Why?"
"I don't like being stuck in here."
She frowns and gives me the bottle of jelly, it's the same stuff we always ate at home, besides the powder. It used to taste good, now it makes me ill and I've been losing weight as an affect.
"My name is Lucinda."
"Interesting. I've never heard of it."
"It my first name."
My eyes widen.
"It's alright. I'm telling you because I would like to know your first name."
I wanted to get along with this woman. Maybe she'd let me out if I played along.
"If I tell you, will you explain this too me?" I gesture to the room.
"I'll explain anyway, but I want you to willingly tell me your name."
"Veris."
She nods. She already knows my name, why would she ask? Did she want my first name? I'd never give it out, not to anyone.
"Okay Veris. I've brought you here to remove your chip."
I open my mouth to protest, but she holds up a waiting finger.
She's got long black hair, and a labcoat like everyone else wears. Her eyes are grey, of course, like everyone else's. Although they're a different shade of grey, like she is not bound too the city like the rest of us are.
"It's because TIB is broken. In order to fix her, we needed someone to unhook - so to speak."
"Why me?"
"It was a coin flip my dear."
"What's that mean?"
She laughs, but it's a little dark, sad and hollow.
"You where chosen by chance. I saw your file and thought 'hey, maybe her.'"
I didn't buy it. But like I said before, this woman had to be an ally if I was going to get free.
"We chose five of you, only you and another one lived."
"Really? Can I meet her?"
"Maybe you can meet him, later though, he's not as... calm as you are dear."
"What's that mean?"
"Oh nothing, you could say he's not taking it very well, the change I mean."
"Can I at least know his name?"
"Foster."
I was surprised she gave up the information so easily.
"How long have I been here?"
She shakes her head.
"Long enough for this." She pulls a short lock of hair from behind my ears. "To grow back from nothing but fuzz."
How long would that be? Months at least.
"And when do I leave?"
"Soon. But we need you for something."
"What?"
"We need you to fix TIB."
"But I don't know how. And why would you have me - if I can't hear her anymore?"
"Wanna know a secret?"
She leans in.
"I've never been chipped."
It clicked. Lucinda Aldo Barker, Aldo, our governor, the creator of TIB hadn't even been chipped. Never connected to her own computer system.
"And I need someone on my side, someone who isn't controlled by TIB."
"She doesn't control me!"
"She would've."
With that, before I can inquire further she leaves.
"Wait! Let me out please! I want to see my family!"
But it goes unheard, maybe not unheard, but ignored. My family, an excuse of course. My family was just a pod, roommates.
Just a few minutes later, the building begins to shake. Then there's a large blast that seems to come from under the floor. It knocks me into the air a foot or two and I land on my knees.
My tray of jelly has spilled all over the white mosaic floor.
The door Lucinda used to enter opens crookedly.
Is this on purpose? Am I supposed to leave? Or is it possible that we are under attack?
I'd read about attack in school. I also knew that if I didn't leave I'd probably be blow to back into binary code.
So I picked myself up off the floor, limbs itching for a run. With that I sprinted through the door before it could close me inside.