Zane's morning was rushed. He had slept straight through his alarm and had to scramble to prepare himself for his first day of work. He hastily snatched a bagel from the counter while simultaneously opening the fridge to grab the cream cheese icing. He had to make the bullet train to get to work, and the next train left in. . . he checked his watch. Twelve minutes. He had twelve minutes. Tossing the dirtied knife in the sink, he rushed out of the kitchen, stopping to give his mother a small kiss on the cheek and his father a handshake, and then he was out the door, shouldering a duffel bag and rushing to get to the train station.
Vaulting over a railing, he descended down some underground stairs which opened into the bullet train terminal. He almost landed on a frail old lady but dodged at the last moment. As he ran off, he heard her mutter, "Damn hooligan,". He shouldered his way past people with briefcases and backpacks. He checked his watch once again. Eight minutes.
He hit the ground running, literally. He sped down the small underground passage, skidding to a stop next to a ticket booth. "Where's-" he checked the document in his hand that had been given to him by the head of the experimental science division. "-train F3?" he gasped out, hands on his knees. The small woman inside pointed to the far end of the terminal, where a light signalling impending departure was flashing.
He cursed to himself and bolted for the train, his duffel bag swinging to the side, narrowly missing civilians. He felt each impact when his foot hit the hard concrete floor, and the voices of hundreds of people marauded his ears.
He heard a shout of "Hold the train!" and saw Joseph leaning out the door of train F3. He gave the other boy a gracious thumbs-up and clambered onto the sleek, silvery train. Inside, it smelled of cologne and perfume which wasn't that flattering when mixed together. Everyone was wearing the traditional work attire of New Vancouver; a dark gray suit over a white shirt paired with a navy blue tie. This kind of outfit was required for the workplace, apart from the more physical ones, such as fishing or construction. It was said to promote healthy judgement of others, for when everybody wore the same thing, it was hard to pick out certain people, which was exactly the intended effect. They wanted everyone to know the people as a whole, as one entity, one being.
Zane finally caught his breath and set his duffel bag down beside what was clearly the spot where Joseph had been sitting. Zane let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and slipped his feet from his sneakers. He knew he would have to run to catch the train this morning, so he had slid his work footwear, a pair of shiny black dress shoes, into his duffel and slipped on his sneakers.
He exchanged his sneakers for his dress shoes, and finally, he felt ready for the day. It may have had a rocky start, but he felt he could save it. He tightened his tie and blended into the entity that was the people of New Vancouver. He was just another hard-working civilian, simply a shadow of the overseeing government. If someone were to look within this train from above and be asked to pick out Zane Morrison, they could not, even if given a description of him. For there was no unique, there was only normal.
Apart from one. When asked to pick out the oddball on the train, that someone would have pointed to Joseph Romanson. His dark hair was askew upon his head, a shaggy mat among carpets. His tie was a shade lighter than everyone else's, and it was tied differently. He seemed to want to stand out, to be noticed. He sat awkwardly, one knee pulled up to his chest which must have been painfully uncomfortable in a stiff suit. His chin was raised. He was proud of his uniqueness. In an island of solemn and denied admirations of well-doing, he was the lone tree of pride, able to appreciate his own achievements.
Zane turned to Joseph, releasing himself from the entity if only for a brief second. "Any idea what kind of work we'll be doing?" he asked nonchalantly. He was extremely nervous for today, but he was not going to let Joseph see that.
"No," the other boy answered. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
Zane sighed. "I hate waiting,"
Joseph, bringing his other leg up to sit cross-legged on the thin train seat, gave him a curious look. "Why?"
"I don't know, it just seems like wasted time. Why keep the subject of our work from us when we could have been told and come prepared for whatever it was we're doing."
Joseph gestured subtly at Zane's nearly bulging duffel bag. "That's not prepared?"
Zane scoffed at him, turning only slightly away. Abruptly, he said, "You've got the wrong color of tie on," he laid his hands on his knees, taking a deep breath.
Joseph peered down at his chest as if seeing the tie for the first time. Whereas every other tie worn on the train was navy blue, his was a more beautiful, majestic sea blue. He frowned slightly. "I know," he said softly. "I want to be unique."
"Why?" Zane demanded, his voice rising slightly.
"I want to be seen," Joseph said softly. "I want to be known as a separate person, someone with their own opinions, beliefs, and passions. I'm different from everybody else in this city, so why not show it?"
"How are you so different?"
"You couldn't understand," Joseph said, turning away. "You are just like every other seventeen-year-old person in New Vancouver. You follow the rules and expect nothing in return. You abide by their laws but yet those laws restrict you from expressing yourself. Do you not see the repression? The forced compliance?"
Zane shrunk back. Joseph was acting crazy. Zane opened his mouth, but Joseph was not finished.
"I don't care what laws the Governors lay down. I don't care if I am told to sit a certain way and read a certain book. I am not going to do any of it. I do not care about anything in this garbage city. The philosophy is wrong. Earth is not for humans. Tell me, Zane, have you ever seen the outside world?" he demanded furiously. He clearly expected an answer.
"Well, of course, I-" Zane's heart skipped a beat. I haven't.
"My point exactly," Joseph said with finality.
Zane was furious. Joseph was speaking out against everything they had ever been told. How could they control every aspect of his life? He was his own person. His mind drifted to the identical suits worn by the people on the train, but he shook it off just as quickly. No, the philosophy was not a lie. It was the only thing Zane had ever known, and he wasn't about to give it up just because a boy he had known for one day dared to tell him it was wrong. Even if the boy was so attractive. Zane wrinkled his brow in surprise. Another unwelcome yet bafflingly entertaining thought. He had to figure them out before they got out of hand.
The rest of the train ride passed in silence, and Zane never once glanced over at Joseph. He did not care what the other boy thought. He would warm up to this new job eventually and realize that all he ever needed was here in New Vancouver, right in front of him. He didn't need to be different if he could fit in. There were no advantages to standing out. It only got you noticed, which was not always a good thing.
Zane turned to the window and watched his city flash by. He saw the towering metal buildings stream past and he revelled in the darkness when their train slipped through a tunnel. Joseph readjusted his tie, making it appear more out of place, and Zane frowned. Why did the boy's asymmetry appeal to Zane's eyes so much? It was wrong and technically illegal, although never explicitly stated. He shook off the weird emotions and returned his gaze to the window, where downtown New Vancouver was fading into the distance.
Unfortunately, this train did not take them to their new place of work. Instead, it brought them to an isolated, heavily fortified building on the outskirts of the city, where the enormous steel wall rose up. Zane craned his head to try and see the top. It rose like an impending monster, casting deep shadows across multiple streets and blocking the sunlight. The building seemed to be connected directly to it, a bud of the enormous metallic wall.
The train screeched to a stop and the doors swept open, inviting them to step outside. The people around Zane and Joseph got off the train, but both boys stayed put for just a few seconds longer. Finally, after waiting for Joseph to move, Zane stood up. "This is ridiculous," he said, clambering over Joseph's legs to get to the aisle. Squaring his shoulders, he strode down the walkway and out through the doors into the fresh air.
The smell of steel automatically hit him. It had a certain fragrance that could easily be discerned. It was almost a bitter smell. Zane did not particularly enjoy this smell, so he began to subtly breathe through his mouth instead of his nostrils. After several seconds, Joseph stepped off the train behind Zane and winced at the harsh smell.
The whole area was enclosed in darkness. Zane could no longer see the difference between Joseph's tie and all the ties of the others now dispersing, heading everywhere but the ominous dark building before Zane. He took a deep breath, dispelling the fact that this was not the place he was intended to go. Perhaps it was some sort of orientation, or simply just a subdivision of the experimental science division. He didn't give it much thought but clearly, Joseph did. The other boy was standing hesitantly behind Zane and followed him slowly toward the building.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Joseph asked. "Perhaps we missed our stop on the train?" Zane did not bother to answer. He was still fuming after their argument on the train. Although he did pause to check his work order. The address code on the sheet matched the one on the building, so he was certain this was the right place.
He turned the door handle. A hologram appeared from a keypad screen on the left of the door, about eye level. It appeared to be a real-time hologram, because it seemed to regard them closely, judging them. After a few seconds, it turned to someone they could not see and gave them a thumbs-up. The door swung open to reveal a hallway lit harshly by bright fluorescent lights.
Zane, having his first doubts about this place, stepped into the hallway, gazing around. There was nothing particularly noticeable about this place. It was made completely of tempered steel, as most structures of New Vancouver were. There were no windows. What need would they have for windows when no natural light shines even remotely close to them? Zane thought to himself.
He realized he had been tugging at a frayed string on his duffel bag and was stopped in the center of the hallway. A light touch to his shoulder from Joseph let him know to keep moving.
As he walked, he heard noises coming from other sections of the building. They sounded like human moans of pain as if someone were in terrible agony. They seemed to reverberate through Zane's mind and he shuddered slightly. "Do you hear that?" he asked Joseph, his earlier anger forgotten in his brief moment of fear.
He saw Joseph nod out of the corner of his eye. "It sounds like people," he said. His eyes darted to the side as a loud crash and a soft whoosh echoed from nearby. He didn't need to say anything. Zane had heard it, too.
They proceeded to a door at the end of the hallway. A smiling face appeared at the small, slightly translucent glass in the top corner of the small metal door. The door opened and they stepped into a large room filled with computer monitors of all shapes and sizes, and small security holograms. These holograms showed the goings-on from around the building, guards pacing back and forth and what appeared to be disturbing holograms of teenagers writhing in pain. Zane also saw, in one of the smaller videos, what appeared to be a small boy, perhaps a year older than himself, standing in a room that had extra reinforcement built into the walls, and beside the hologram was a reading of the oxygen in the room, among other statistics. It appeared to be a completely climate-controlled room. The boy stood stock-still as if he were a statue. Without warning, a fire erupted on the floor of the room, and a bar reading temperature rose swiftly upward. Before Zane could see what happened next, a stout old lady barred his line of sight to the hologram.
The man who had welcomed them in still had a huge smile on his face, despite all the pain the room seemed to emanate. He wore a gray suit like everybody else, but like Joseph, his tie was a different color. It was not another shade of blue, though. It was distinctly blood red.
He spread his arms wide in a welcoming gesture, and Zane caught sight of another hologram displaying a climate-controlled room for a brief second.
The man smiled even wider. "Welcome to your new job!" he exclaimed. "Welcome to the Human Experimental Science Division!"