The Solution (2nd Edition)

Sarah

This was it.

    "Designated Alert: united peoples of New Japan, Kazakhstan and China, The Tripod Coalition can now verify that The Lottery Draft has concluded. The random selection will follow... Transmission ended."

    Tighter than ever before, I'd squeezed at Chon's hand.

    This was until our Dots seemed to buzz in tandem and tug for our individual attention.

    I'd taken the initiative to be the one to break our palmlink and raise my forearm. After all, one of us had to. Not only that, Chon had been brave throughout everything up until now.

    Thankfully, I wasn't alone. Almost every BTV employee had discarded their predatory ways - found their humanity - and acknowledged the demands of Fuji-Apple's biotec.

    The only exception was Dieng & Co.

    For the rest of us, wide eyes continuously flitted between the holotron and an assortment of colorless nodes. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before the first vibrating illumination sounded out and shone brightly. All eyes shifted to its source, and unsurprisingly, it had come from Pae. The chief didn't even need to say anything. Instead, his arrogant smile widened more than before, and he showcased the golden glow emanating from his wrist by returning to his old ways. Without regard, the unscrupulous prick had lifted his hands, cupped them over his blackened lips and brought a tobacco stick to life with an eager flame. Upon doing so, his glowing forearm was clear for all to see and the collection of shoulders around me, flounced. A multitude of other physical expressions were quick to follow. Understandably, they'd jittered and pulsed across the technology plain like animated thunderbolts on the underbelly of a stormy skyline.

    Another lit buzz came, and automatically, all glares moved to Charlie. He shot his left upper limb into the air. But weirdly, his Dot remained, colorless...

    So did Gail's. And Mae-Zu's...

    What on earth was going on...?

    In a bid to locate the second Eligible Patron, everyone shuffled around anxiously, as if trying to find a lost child among a busy crowd. Truth was, a beam of golden sparkles had hit my retinas from the bottom up and the buzzing was coming from, me. Flustered beyond belief, I'd squeezed my eyelids shut and squirmed inside, fucking desperate to ignore the privileged light. I'd even grabbed at my crop of pixie hair for salvation, but to no avail. Thankfully, the torture didn't last. My eyelids flashed open when the next buzz came from right beside me...

    Chon had held up his wrist. In utter disbelief, we'd studied one another! Our nodes, their glows, our facial responses, everything! But it was short-lived once we'd remembered where we were, what was at stake, and those surrounding us who were yet to bask in golden glory.

    Although sporadic, the golden glows started to appear faster now, gifting other BTV colleagues stood on the plain. In total, I'd counted nineteen. This included Dieng, Chon and myself, as well as sixteen others... In fact, one more buzzing glow would make it twenty - primes aside - an even fucking number... Painstakingly, there was roughly two hundred of us in situ.

    Panicking now, I'd looked for my best friend and spun on the spot. Thankfully, he was where I'd hoped to find him. Furthermore, the big guy's implanted wrist buzzed and beamed with warm yellow light, and to be sure, I'd lurched beside him. A moment after, I'd reached for his heavy hand! Ignoring the person in front of him...I unclamped it and pulled until witnessing what I'd needed to see.

    I rejoiced! Like Chon and I, he'd done it! The embossed Dot on Mikey's forearm glowed, just as strikingly as the eyes of Heimdall, himself!

    But something was wrong.