Program Error

Chapter One

I stand at my bus point, waiting for the familiar sound of tires rumbling down our street. Calum stands behind me, talking with his friends. Our bus point, Point 8, is the last point on our bus' route. I usually stall so much that I make it with minutes to spare. But today is different.

I arrived with exactly one minute before the bus is supposed to reach our point.The bus was supposed to reach here three minutes ago. That is an error. A mistake.

That is something that has hardly ever happened before. It has occured before in the past, when our modern society first began to form. The errors were expected, because technology was not advanced like it is today. Nobody notices the error. Just me.

The bus finally turns down our street, slowly rumbling along. It stops right on the indicated line on the road. The doors open with a swish. Some kids cut in front of me, pulling out their status cards. I do the same. I stare down at the thin, white piece of plastic. There is a bar code, several black lines at the top of the card. Below it is my name, Aza Marson, written in thin, black letters. The card contains all of my data, like my age, and my school. Without my status card, I would be nobody. There would be no record that I ever existed. I would be a wondering soul, left to beg for scraps on the streets, like those who choose to leave the Society.

I step onto the bus platform,and up the steps. The less privileged members of the Society are forced to use old buses like these. They are no where near the high-tech BioBuses in Society Center. Our bus has only been slightly modified. The steering wheel, used to drive the bus in the past, is now replaced by a small, flat screen. There is no driver because the bus is operated by an Automater, a worker controlling the bus from an office in Society Center.

A small, silver sphere sits on top of a tall pole by the door. On top is a black circle emitting a red light. I swipe my status card over it and it beeps, indicating the card was read. Looking for my best friend Saira, I continue walking to the back of the bus. When I get to our usual bus seat, Saira isn't there. In fact, most students from points before ours are missing. Did they miss the bus somehow? No, it would be impossible for that many students to miss the bus all at once. The bus must have missed them. Judging by the puzzled looks on their faces, others notice this too. Another error.

The bus lurches forward, not waiting for any remaining students standing. I fall into the seat nearest me. We are not allowed to move once the bus is moving. Others still do it, but that might result in a demerit. I already have to many. If I get one more, my week wouldn't go too well. I guess I'm sitting here today.

The ride to school seems longer today. It's probably because Saira isn't on the bus to chat with me. Or help me with our assignments. I quickly pull my BioTab out of my bag. I press the power button, causing the screen to turn white. The words 'BioTab' flash across the screen. Once the home screen comes on, I tap the assignment icon. There are fourteen questions unanswered in Society History. The questions that I decided to skip last night, thinking that Saira would help me. And she is not here right now. I turn the BioTab back off.

With a frustrated groan, I look out the window. I believe we are at Point 7. The stop before ours. Not after. Next we stop at 6, then 5. I notice a pattern. Is the bus traveling backwards?

The next time I glance out the window, we are at Circuit Court, one of the first bus points. I think. This is where Saira lives. Maybe she'll be my homework hero after all!

Several other kids get on before Saira. When she finally appears among the crowd of kids, I smile and wave her over. She quickly scans her card and makes her way down the aisle, sitting next to me.

"Hey, Az,"she says, as cheery as ever.

"Hey,"I say, turning my BioTab back on. Saira does the same, knowing that I have unfinished assignments.