There was only one school for everyone; it was a blue dome in Arca's center, close to the Prime Building, where it is. (See image in chapter 1 of Arca)
Everyone from Arca goes here, not only elementary, middle, and high school but also to college and universities. It's a huge, perfect half-circle dome that would take three hours to cross from side to side.
The train stopped in the dome's center, so everyone was equally close to where they had to be. My class, where I would stay the whole day, was number 2590B, next to Valrie and Sarina's classroom.
I waited for them just inside the entrance from the subway as I looked around the familiar place.
"Oh, my God! Where were you? We thought the train took off without you!" Sarina tackled me in a hug.
"I went in the first class, ate some food, it was nice," They both looked at me like I was crazy.
"Wha- How- How did that happen!? You're so lucky!!" I covered my ears from their screams.
"I tried going to your wagon, and then all the station went red. I stopped moving, and the only door open was for the first class, so I got in and had some very expensive food," They looked at me shocked, before jumping up and down in excitement.
"Bitch! You're so lucky!" Valrie slapped my arm over and over again.
"I think I saw the station going red. Everyone stopped moving. It was kind of cool," Sarina said.
"Imagine having the power to say, school stop, and everything goes red," Valrie jokes.
"Like, school red," I said and clapped. The moment my hands came in contact, the entire school was red. Everyone stopped immediately what they were doing, afraid and curious about why this was happening. "Holy shit," I covered my hand with my mouth and turned around to look at the dome building.
"Stop moving!" Sarina whisper shouted at me, not moving from her frozen position.
"Oh my God, there are Golems in here," I looked at where Valrie was looking in fear to see at least thirty Golems. Golems were a more extreme type of police robot, only seen where there were very bad issues, like revolts or dangerous fights.
They were armored robots, ready to use extreme force for any case necessary. They were their own AI, but It still controlled them if needed. They are no human police, only robots that will follow Its orders without questioning. They aren't the worst types of robots out there, there are more dangerous ones, but you never want to be in their way.
"Why are they here?" Sarina begins to have a panic attack. Her sister was killed during a Golem and protesters confrontation. She was caught in the middle of a fight and got her skull crushed with one single punch from the robots. She fell on the floor and clutched her chest while hyperventilating.
Her movements caught the attention of five Golems who now marched in our direction. Without thinking, I dropped on the ground next to her and tried my best to calm her down while shielding her.
"They'll have to take me before they get to you," I whispered to her. I looked back and saw they were closer now. I was scared; I was panicking. Being in the way of their prey was asking for a death wish. A lone tear fell from my eye, and as if the Gods had heard me, the school turned blue again, and the Golems stopped in their tracks before turning around and walking away. "Thank God."
"I thought I would never see you two again," Valrie hugged both of us. "Let's get you to the nurse," She helped Sarina up, who had her cheeks stained with tears.
"You two go; I have to go to class. Be safe," I kissed both of their cheeks before walking away. I never experienced something so frightening in my life, not firsthand at least. I've seen people die and get taken away by them as well as the Sona, police robots.
They roam all over the place but are mostly concentrated in Gaia and Primos, only here and there in Topia. They were also AI robots with silver armor with one blue eye, like a cyclops. They were equipped with guns, laser guns, and some even knives, but were less dangerous than the Golems.
When their eyes turned red, It was controlling them at that moment. I've only seen one from the window of my apartment; it was roaming on the street below before walking out of my eyesight.
"Lilya Xander . . . Present," A robotic voice announced to the class once I entered my room. The class was almost full of some students missing; lucky them class would start in ten minutes.
Once everyone entered the class and were seated, the teacher, a human, not a robot, walked inside and placed her stuff on her table. The class had the same setting as classrooms more than one thousand years ago, rows of tables and chairs, but instead of using a book, pencil, and paper, we had monitors in front of us to use.
"If you were either sleeping or daydreaming, there was a shutdown around thirty minutes ago," A shutdown means when an area turned red. "Around the entire of Arca," I widened my eyes at the information. I thought it was only in the school. "No information was released of why it happened, but it's known that no one was in trouble or disappeared."
Students started whispering to each other about the incident, asking each other what it might have been until the teacher said for them to be quiet.
"Now, let's not discuss this any further. We stopped last class about-" I shut her out and stared at the screen in front of me. We had assigned seats, so my name was displayed at the top right of the screen, together with the date and our motto;
One ruler, one rule.
One person, one... thing that rules over all the rest.
We could play games but were only free to use during breaks, so I just let my finger hover over them. My favorite was the one we could draw or design things from already available options, make them talk, and make a story, or even another game. My eyes narrowed over the game icon before I sighed and let my hand move down to my lap.
The screen suddenly changed from the usual light blue color to the game screen. I looked around to see if anyone was looking over at me or if the teacher was looking my way, but I was safe.
My eyes went back to the screen, and clicked on a button.
Draw
I chose the option to use a pencil and drew an elephant's back, the easiest way to draw the beautiful animal. On the side of the screen, I wrote;
Want to go to the zoo <3 <3
I smiled and saved the drawing into my already existing drawings. I continued to draw random things until lunchtime, which surprised me the teacher hadn't called my name once.
"Lunch for class 2590B will take place in cafeteria number 1A," A robotic voice spoke through the class speakers. The students either cheered or looked shocked at each other. Cafeteria 1A was just like the first-class wagon, only for rich people, and when I say rich, I mean rich. But different from the train, everything in the cafeterias was free, so you could eat as much as you'd like.
"Thank you!" One of the students got on the floor and bowed towards one of the many cameras in the room. We all laughed but were also thankful for this opportunity. The cameras were obvious in the classroom and everywhere, so people know that they are being watched. But there are cameras too small to see with the naked eye in some places, like inside houses and banks.
"Alright, you lucky kids, go have your food," The teacher smiled at us before everyone ran out of the room, excited. She was a strict teacher but a nice friend; I liked her. "And Lilya," She called for me before I could step out of the classroom.
"Yes?" I turned around to look at her.
"I was asked to take you and two other people to the zoo tomorrow. You can choose whoever you want, but make sure to be at the school entrance by eight in the morning, not a minute late," I nodded my head and thanked her before walking out the room with a shocked face.
"Wait," I went back inside to ask her something. "I can't afford to go there, and neither my friends; I don't think I can go," I looked at her with an apologetic and sad smile. The zoo was expensive to go to as it had all the animals in the world and the best reception and food and everything.
"Don't be silly, Lilya; everything has already been paid. We will go to all attractions, eat all the food available without spending a cent. Go tell your friends after school, and don't worry about anything."
I stared at her in shock and nodded my head unconsciously.
"I'm sorry I'm taking you lunchtime but... who paid it?" I asked curiously.
"Don't know," She shrugged. "I just got a message saying all of that. I think you were chosen in a random selection on who gets to go to the zoo. I wouldn't think about it too much. Now go on, go eat that delicious once-in-a-lifetime food," She ushered me out of the room before going out herself.
I stared and one of the cameras on the ceiling before giving it a grateful smile. It most likely was just like my teacher said, I got lucky, and not that it did it for me because of something I wrote in a stupid drawing.
I turned around to walk away, and I swear for a moment the panels close to me flicked green with a smiley face, but it could've been my imagination.
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Some cool robots appeared. Did you like them?
I must say, it was pretty hard finding the ones I wanted, and I'm glad I did.
The next update is on Thursday.
Please don't forget to vote and comment on what you thought, and 'see' you in the next chapter.