The Quarantine

The last dinner

Moving into the hall, Ebony was greeted by a not-so-pleasant surprise.  Everything in the room was covered with sterile materials. All the walls, the large dining hall, the park and the digital rooms now lay covered in a white plasma sheet. Ebony figured that the last dinner would be like no other. 

Tiny robots moved around the room, asking students to keep a distance of over 2 metres from each other. Other, more aggressive ones beeped and screeched when students did not do so. Big android robots gave every student a tray table and a chair to sit on. For all students to keep their distances, the dining room and the main hall were all filled with chairs. Gigantic screens and speaker complexes broadcasted the speech of the dean.

A small, hawkish man, on whom age and stress had taken their toll, the dean stood on the podium and asked for silence. The students quickly complied. It seemed the old man had his way of enforcing discipline and obedience. He then started:

"To all students, teachers, deans and alumni of the Institution,

This is the last day of schooling before we all retire back to our source homes. I want to extend my gratitude to the city authorities for assuring the security of the Institution, at a hard time. I ..."

Ebony was on the verge of enjoying a very good nap. Unfortunately for her, pesky little robots ran around, waking her up with their shouts and beeps.

"Please keep a distance with a minimum of 2 metres" they repeated endlessly.

"Okay, we got it", Alice, who seemed equally tired, shouted.

The dean continued.

"The government has enlisted our help in the fight against the new virus. Our biology teachers will oversee clinical trials and test existing medication. We are happy and willing to serve the human race and our government. Our school will also send the top-performing students in Biology to the Capitol, to the state laboratories. There, they will participate in ongoing research. As for the government's need of ..." he rambled on.

Alice almost choked on her apple puree. Her excitement was immeasurable. A flood of questions filled her. Did this mean she going to go to the Capitol? What was she going to do? What kind of research would she participate in? Would they let her see some patients up close?

After recovering from the shock, Alice looked at Ebony. She seemed to share her enthusiasm and mouthed the words "I told you so".  

Alice started to laugh, a laugh coming from the depths of her soul and echoing across the room. She did not realise it, but an instructor three rows back had heard it and had started signalling her about something. She wanted Alice to stop, but she didn't, failing to notice the signal.   

The instructor then mumbled something to a student and pointed in her direction. She realised what the instructor was gesturing about. Her face immediately turned pale. She thought of all the punishments the instructor could have reserved for her and shivered. 

"What if they fired me? Damn it. With my bad behaviour, they'll send me home again. Yes, yes, that's it. They'll send me home early, with no chance to say goodbye to my friends. Without ever seeing Ebony again."

But the student she had seen had stopped somewhere else. He was now out of sight.

That scared her ten times more. What if he had to inform the dean of her punishment first? 

"Maybe," she thought "the dean could pardon me. But then again, maybe not. He was not the calmest of men." She still remembered the day Anne was expelled from the school. "She had been using her phone in class, yes, but was that a good reason to expel her?"