Ageing, Y hated this word, its pure existence gave him pain, he could never imagine himself fading away like a spark, but he had escaped it, barely. The only part of Y that could be defined as a human was his brain, or in other words, the only part of human left in the world. He, or it, was just a chunk of red flesh, floating in the greenish liquid that provides it with oxygen, nutrients and artificial hormones (where Y could adjust his emotions manually at different times). The former nerve chord with replaced by a long, thick wire that connects Y with the outside world. Kilometres away, at the very edge of Euphoria, the ‘body’ of Y, an android lowered its camera.
“Is that you?” Vivian was already a living corpse by now, although the company had used all its resources trying to keep her alive, the truth of her fading away could never be stopped. She reached up with her arm, the skin on it was like a plastic bag that is overly stretched, which remained loose and full of curves. Her eyes lost their former passion, and her voice was broken.
“Yes, it’s me,” the android replied, “how are you feeling today, Vivian?”
“Very well,” Vivian forced a smile from her dried lips, “you?”
“More alive than ever,” Y clutched his robotic hand slightly, making a few clicking noises as the joints in his fingers moved. The two looked at each other for a long moment.
“Do you seriously want to die that eagerly?” Y screamed through the speaker, “Look at you, you are like a dried cucumber, you can barely see, barely eat and you can’t even move around without all these pipes.”
Vivian remained her smile, “Maybe that’s what you like, but just let me be. Y, I am tired, I want to rest in Heaven…”
“HEAVEN DOESN’T EXIST!”
“Fine, but I don’t want to live anymore.”
“WHY?!” Y leaned with his camera inches away from Vivian’s face, “You can have everything! The whole Euphoria, you contributed more than 30% of it, and you can proudly live here and do whatever you want.”
Vivian turned her head slightly, “Some people like stories that never finish, but I’m the kind who enjoys a peaceful ending. Please, just let me be, I’ll be more than pleased if you can live on happily without me.”
“I don’t need you…”
“Then why are trying to keep me alive?”
“DON’T DIE!”
Vivian opened her eyes slightly, a single drop of tear slid down her cheek, “They told me.”
“Who?”
“The ones who let you live.”
The android or the former human stood by Vivian’s coffin. He could use the hormones to trigger his sadness, but in his hand, was the final words of Vivian left for him. He lifted his camera, and observed the ocean, “Goodbye, Vivian.”
——————————————————————————————————
“Teasel!” Hans called out to his friend, “Where had you been?!”
Teasel turned around and greeted his human friend, “Got lost in the recycling again.”
“Are you joking,” Hans laughed broadly, “I bet you had a hell of a good time, look at you, you seemed much taller and buffer than before.” Before Teasel could react, he punched Teasel’s arm lightly.
“Damn,” Hans cried, “how much have you worked out in the past week? Your arm is hard as metal.”
“That’s a stupid friend you got there,” said Mary, who was wearing her invisible cloak, “but he looks a good cushion.”
“Mary, please,” Teasel begged.
“Fine, fine,” Mary turned away from Hans, “wait, is that girl the one you like?”
Teasel rotated his head suddenly, Sheila was standing behind him.
“Look Teasel!” both Mary and Hans said at the same time.
“Teasel where had you been?” Sheila asked, “I was so worried about you…”
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“SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WORRIED!”
——————————————————————————————————
The Education Centre was a huge fortress without any windows, it was surrounded with layers of electric fence and guards stations were present every fifty meters. Aside from the bright red party logo, the whole building was pitch black, which this colour allowed it to be never cleaned.
“Are you sure the physical tests won’t spot me out?” Teasel asked Mary over their mental connection, “After all, I’m still a huge metal dragon walking around.”
“Well,” Mary checked her notes, “ you should be fine with the body scans and blood testing which my programme can hack the system.”
“I see,” replied Teasel, he nervously glanced around, all the teenagers in the zone had been gathered here, Hans and Sheila both stood beside him.
“Are you nervous?” Teasel tried to start a conversation with Sheila.
“Kinda,” Sheila combed her brown hair with her fingers, “but apparently they told me that I can skip the body checks and lessons.”
“Oh, why?”
“Don’t know,” Sheila shook her head relaxedly, “I think they are probably gonna sign me up to the People’s Hall to serve the Party members.”
“Those…” Teasel stopped as a loud whistle was blown.
“ALL ATTENTION!” A tall guard holding a rifle shouted, “Enter the examination room one by one. RIGHT NOW.” The crowd of teenagers started to move violently, all squishing towards the examination.
“You first,” Teasel said to Sheila while trying to block the push behind him (which was an easy task).
“Thanks, Teasel,” Sheila grinned walked in front of Teasel.
It took at least an hour for Teasel to reach the examination room, he tried to take a deep breath but realised he didn’t have such a setup in his body.
“Get in!” the guard beside his pushed him roughly on the back (although he couldn’t any significance force). Teasel opened the thick, soundproof door and peeked into the examination room. It consisted of huge scanner where a person could simply stand inside ready to be scanned. A middle-aged man wearing a dirty lab coat was sitting beside the scanner looking at the screen of a large computer. Without turned around, the man instructed Teasel, “Come on, step inside the scanner.”
Slowly Teasel walked towards the cylindrical scanner and stepped in the middle of it. The man pressed a red button on his desk. Nothing physical happened, but a strange low pitched noise sounded from the scanner, Teasel could also identify a rotating magnetic field around him. After a minute, the buzzing stopped and the man took out a piece of paper and noted on it, “Very well, you may go to room 110 now.”
The backdoor swung opened automatically and more people were standing outside waiting to get to their assigned room.
“That was quite tensive,” Teasel said while moving into the line that was heading towards the large 110 labels.
“Human,” Mary commented annoyedly over the radio, “are you seriously not trusting the skill of an engineering graduate from IIT?”
“No,” replied Teasel, “even god can make mistakes okay?”
“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t,” Mary said firmly, “do you even know what GOD is?”
Where is mary?
“Wait, someone’s speaking.”
The crowd remained silent as the enormous speakers cracked out a metallic sound through the hallway, “all future party members must know their duties. Every one of you will be the precious seeds for the party. Always remember that the party’s survival is beyond your survival, as our glorious leader stated, ‘ Paradise can only be born through sacrifice’. Remember your role, you are the people, the party’s future…”
“Can we just get on?” Teasel whispered, “Mary, I think we are gonna receive the brain restructure now, are the programs ready?”
What program
“Yep,” Mary replied, she checked the signal device in her hands, it was a long-range signal transmitter that directs robots for their actions, in one of the physical ports, a red coloured chip (that was labelled ‘Jessie got no XXXX’) was plugged in.
“The program should start instantly after your brain is scanned,” said Mary, “oh! Remember to tell your friends to go in after you, or the program can’t save them.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure of that,” Teasel used his genetic tracker to located Hans and Sheila’s location in the crow, “Sheila is taken elsewhere, and Hans is behind me.”
“Good.”
“….NOW!” the loudspeaker screamed, “it's time for your real education for you to learn and love our party, to become a part of us. From your first step into room 110, where millions of your former comrades started their role as party members.”
The line started to move in slowly one by one, like a production chain. No words were being spoken, but the heartbeat of thousands of youngsters echoed through the narrow hallway. Up above their heads, rays of invisible beams targeted the head of every single person, ready to take action in case of a riot. However, in Teasel’s eyes, all these beams were as visible as solid rods, “Mary, can you see this?”
“Yep.”
“This is the world I live in,” Teasel looked up at the automatic rifles on the ceiling.
“I see.”
“How many have they done?” asked Teasel.
“135,” Mary checked her screen that controls, “don’t do anything crazy…”
“I’m not intended to save anymore,” Teasel bit his sharp tooth tightly together, “I’m here for revenge.”
It was his turn, the red paint stained noise proof door awaited his entrance. Teasel held up his arm and gripped his metal claws around the thick metallic handle.
“I’m finally here,” he grinned, “the murder chamber of the party.”
——————————————————————————————————
Room 110 was the most important section with the Education Center, its existence could be tracked since the very first year when East Wind took over the whole of Asia. Before the invention of the Machine of Love, its original purpose served similarly as a torture chamber for ‘traitors’.
It was until the invention of the Machine of Love, that Room 110 became famous for its status in controlling the younger generation. However, one of the greatest mysteries of Room 110 was the Machine of Love itself. The general function of the machine was quite straight forward, it could detect the electrical impulses in the brain and sort out the ‘unclean’ ideas, then, through a series electrical signals, it manipulates the brain’s structure, therefore creating the perfect party member. It was the creation of the machine that was never known, even the Party didn’t claim credit in the invention of this machine. As if the machine just appeared out of thin air.
——————————————————————————————————
Teasel studied the “killer”, or the Machine of Love, carefully. Networks of wires wrapped across it, LED lights of different colours scattered around the spherical body of the machine. Countless cooling fans were roughly placed on the walls, all spinning at their maximum speed. A single metal-framed chair was placed below the machine and was literally burning in the blinding spotlight.
Teasel marched mindfully towards the chair, making sure that he won’t break any of the wires him.
“Teasel Tinman,” said a voice from a speaker on the wall, “please be ready in the next 10 seconds……The education will do you no harm, but make you to love, to love the Party, to love your fellow comrades, to love the great nation you belong to. Now, which nation is the greatest nation of all time?”
“Asiana.”
“Very well,” replied the solemn voice, “it seems that you are already halfway there, we are just gonna give you one more push to make you perfect.”
Should he be feeling nervous? No, Professor Rice told him that he had removed his nervousness from the emotion list for today. Teasel forcefully closed his eyes, he should be feeling nervous, but he couldn’t feel it. Besides the buzz of the cooling fans intensified as the massive machine started to dissect his brain.
“Comrade Teasel Tinman,” the voice spoke again, but this time, it was warm and welcoming, “you are officially a Party member, let me ask you again, which is the greatest nation of all time?”
“Asiana.”
“Well done.”