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FUTURE FEAR 
- Quote:
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“Wakey wake,” the crisp metallic voice cried from the darkness in a methodical monotone voice. “Please take your wakey wake medicine now!”
Bob-R-LAG-1 stirred from the top of his sleep bunk. “But I don’t want to,” he whispered into the uncaring air. Florescent lights slowly began to spark and crackle into their familiar glow. The sounds of feet hitting the ground reminded Bob that he was not alone in his dorm room, although his four roommates were far less than before his promotion when he lived in a dorm with dozens and never got the same bunk bed twice in a sleep cycle.
At the side of the bunk was a small bottle. “Wakey Wake,” the best way to start your eight hour work cycle, was provided in easy to swallow liquid form. It was so simple, even an ordinary infrared clearance citizen could take it, although his was formulated for the “Red” security clearance. That was the “R” in his name, adjusted to indicate his position in the community that was called “Apple Complex.” It was the only community he knew; the only community he knew possible. The medicine was crisp and refreshing, slowly forcing the cobwebs of sleep from his mind and allowing him to focus on a brand new work cycle.
“Dibs on the necessity,” a voice cracked into the air, its delightful freshness and humanness contrasting with the monotone of the alarm voice earlier. Fred-R-LAG-1 was the second oldest among the five boys in the dorm and was almost perpetually unnaturally happy. It was, Bob reminded himself, Fred’s job to be unnaturally happy. Fred worked for a service firm known as the “Smile Counters.” A division of “Glee Quota Adjusters,” its job was to monitor the happiness of all of the citizens in the LAG sector. Happiness was mandatory, of course. Happiness is the key to productivity. Productivity is the key to success. Success is the key to survival among all sectors of Apple Complex, the last and only hope for humanity and the way of life that was Apple Complex.
Bob, on the other hand worked for a company known as “Forms R Us.” This division of “Form Facilitators” provided a convenient and necessary service to the citizens of the sector. Thanks to Friend Computer, the needs of all the citizens was always secured, but the documentation of those needs and the efficient providing of those needs required the understanding of a myriad of complex requesting and reporting forms. Those of lowly infrared clearance were often too unaware of all the complexity that involved the proper filling out of these vastly important forms. Those of higher clearance, who might be more aware of their surroundings, had more important work to worry about than the necessary details of the proper form and the proper filling out of the proper form.
Bob loved forms. Since his first days as an infrared worker for the service firm he studied and memorized all the necessary forms that his fellow citizens in the sector needed. He could tell you, without a moment’s hesitation, the difference between a standard request form for the adjustment of standard food allocation allotments (SRF-BRC-FRTN-57700957) and the request form for special food allotments for Red security clearance as a result of extra meritorious work and or duty (SRF-BRC-FSPC-92911792). With his recent promotion to the red security clearance, he was given the additional assignment of supervising a small group of like minded coworkers. He wasn’t sure that they understood the various forms to the same degree that he had, but it was his new responsibility to encourage all of them to do the best work that they were capable of performing.
Bob jumped out of the bunk to the floor below. Hugo-R-LAG-1 was already dressed. He was the oldest of all the five boys in the dorm, being the ripe age of twenty, two years older than Bob. Of course, age was an odd notion in Apple Complex; the first so called ten years of a citizen’s life, once they were removed from the birthing chambers was spent in the rapid growth chambers of the growing rooms. Once grown, the citizen, assuming that they were not a “clone” of a previous citizen, would then be placed in the learning dorms and would spend six years in intense study to understand all the things required in order to live and survive in Apple Complex, along with all the information necessary for the performing of their assigned service firm function. Once this was done they were assigned to one of the many infrared security clearance sectors and given the standard “Wakey Wake” and “Sleepy Sleep” regiments that made life, for the average infrared citizen, mind numbingly bearable.
For the “clone,” however, the process was rapid and efficient. All citizens, as a part of their normal monthly cycle and as necessary when assigned to special troubleshooting task forces, underwent a special scan of their brains to “back up” their memories and knowledge. This back up was a complex structure and impossible to understand. It was rumored that perhaps citizens of the highest security clearance, the so called “ultraviolet” could understand them. Others insisted that even Friend Computer could not read the contents of a scan. The only function the backup data had was that it could be used to re-implant the same memories into a citizen of identical genetic makeup, also known as a clone. Every citizen was born with five identical clones frozen for convenient use, ready to be thawed out and rapid grown should they suffer an untimely death. The time it took to perform the process from rapid growth to memory restore had been, over the life of Apple Complex, refined to the point where it took less than a work cycle to accomplish.
“Well, I’m glad you are finally out of Bed Bob,” Hugo barked. “The success of Apple Complex demands that every citizen perform his utmost. Failure to perform to ones utmost is dangerous and deliberate failure is treason. Fortunately, you are not the last one to leave your bunk. Once again, that dishonor belongs to Kenny.”
From one of the bunks, a young voice was heard. “Hey I was up earlier than the two of you,” Kenny-R-LAG-3 replied. “And I still have plenty of time to get dressed and head out to work.”
Kenny jumped out of the bunk. He was by far the “youngest” of the boys in the dorm, but at the same time he was also the second clone of Kenny. It was not known for how many years his “prime” and his first clone had lived. His position in the Field Data Collectors Firm was exceptionally hazardous. Experimental pieces of necessary equipment were always prone to either malfunctioning or just blowing up at the worst possible moments. Ironically, while he was technically only thirteen years of physical age, he had spent three of those years (in his current clone incarnation) as a Red security level citizen, while Bob had spent six years in training, and then two years as an infrared security level citizen.
So, Bob thought to himself. Fred was in the necessity; Hugo and Kenny were standing before him. That left only one of his dorm mates unaccounted for. “Where’s Ed,” he asked, while putting on his special red security level clearance armored outfit.
“Ed woke up a few hours before everyone else did,” Kenny replied. “He said something about having to check the electrical surges in-between cycles.”
Hugo did not seem impressed. “And you heard that while still in your sleep cycle?”
“After you die a few times,” Kenny replied, “you learn to be a ‘light’ sleeper.”
:kenny: Yes, Kenny actually dies twice in the novel. One was caused because of an act Bob performed as a result of a direct command from his secret society superiors. (Both deaths do occur once he is promoted to orange level.)
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Kenny
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Nov 29 2011, 12:45 PM
Post #2
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