Chapter One

“Attention all citizens. Dawn has risen over the nation. You are all required to wake, and begin your daily activities. Attention all citizens. Dawn has risen over the nation. You are all required to wake, and begin your daily activities,” the recorded message played on an auto loop.

I quickly rose out of bed, hastily putting on a bathrobe. I rushed to the children’s room, crashing the door open, glad to see they were already awake.

“Come, kids, let us eat some breakfast,” I said.

They walked past me and I followed close behind. We made our way to the dining hall, where they sat down. I poured them glasses of orange juice, along with a bowl of cereal. No time to make myself a bowl of breakfast before loud knocking rasped the door.

“Good morning Mister Quinn. May we enter your household?”

“Yes, of course, good sir, please come in,” I replied.

The officer and his fellow men entered the house. The children stopped eating and looked at the men, before resuming their breakfast.

“Search the house, every inch.”

The men quickly disbanded and went in every room; some went upstairs, the attic and basement, on their search.

“I have some questions for you Mister Quinn. This won’t take long. Just some very simple questions, and then we’ll leave you and family in peace,” said the officer.

“Of course sir, I’ll answer as best I can.”

“Very good. Now let us commence. Have you had any guests yesterday night?”

I shook my head. “No, I had no guests last night.”

The officer scribbled onto his notepad.

“Very good. Now, have you heard of anybody seeking asylum in your neighborhood or home?”

“Uh no officer, I haven’t heard of any people seeking asylum.”

More scribbling. The officer put away his notebook and pen. He stepped closer to me, almost to the point where his breathing could be heard.

“You would be sure to tell us of any errors that were to occur, Mr. Quinn hmmm? We wouldn’t you to end up like your wife,” he whispered.

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“Of course sir, any errors will be reported at once.”

The officer grinned and stepped back, at the same time, his men returned. They reported an all clear. The officer smiled and wished us a good day, before leaving. I gave out a sigh that I’ve been holding in and got myself my breakfast.

Chapter Two

I left the school that the children attended, and drove off, headed to work. Pedestrians walked beside the roads, bleak and bland. Monstrous buildings towered high, making up the city of C-9, one of the many cities of the C district. Without much time, the building that was my destination loomed on the horizon. Public announcements blared on the many loudspeakers that dotted every block. I parked in the buildings parking lot. As I approached the front doors, the company’s name, bolted onto the building: POWER C DISTRICT, the company that controlled the electrical power of C district. I entered the building through the main doors. People greeted me, I greeted back. I made my way to the tenth floor, where my workplace was stationed. I sat down at my place, looking at the stack of papers that were due to be done. I woke the computer from its slumber, its screen slowly flickering to life. The screen displayed sections of the power grid, the very thing that flowed electrical life into the district. The power nodes were all lit green, according to the computer. I instead focused my gaze on the stack of paperwork. Most were daily reports of coworkers. I briefly read the reports.

“Hey, Michael.”

“What do you want Rick? I’m busy.”

Rich chuckled. “Stop assuming I always want something. Lighten up. I’m just checking up on you, that is part of my job after all.”

I put down my papers and looked at him. Rick Hammond was dressed in a black suit with a black tie and also worked on my floor. He was the only employee on my floor that I struck conversations with. He was recently given a raise and became the tenths floor boss, so, in turn, my boss.

“What can I help you with Rick?”

“Should you really be addressing me like that?”

“I’m not going to call you boss or Sir, Rick.”

Another chuckle. “Fine fine. But I’m just doing my job, making sure my employees do what’s asked of them.”

“Well as you can clearly see, I’m doing my job.”

“Yeah but have you looked at your monitor lately.”

I looked at the computer screen. Some of the power nodes were blinking red. I clicked on them, waited for the screen to give me the root of the problem. Nothing showed up.

“It won’t tell me what’s wrong,” I told Rick.

“Weird. Well, you’ll have to go look at the nodes,” he said and left.

I got up and headed to the elevator. The button labeled PN was pushed and the elevator descended into the earth. The noise of the building faded away as the elevator plummeted, replaced by the humming and rumbling of the power grid. The elevator halted and opened up. A security guard eyed me as I approached.

“State your business.”

I handed her my employee card. “Just here to check on some power nodes. Computers failed to detect the anomaly.”

“Stand here Mr. Quinn.”

I stood in the detection field, as the security guard scanned me. With a pat down for added measure, my card was returned to me, along with a flashlight.

“You may pass Mr. Quinn. Only do the task you have been assigned with, nothing more.”

“Of course.”

The guard lets me pass, the steel doors protecting the way to the grid, swung opened. I walked past, and they closed behind me. As I walked away, it became eerily quiet as I moved further and further away, only to have the sound of sizzling electricity, with metallic air invading my nostrils. Time to see what the problem was.