AED-#210-31570 sat in an office, opposite another, albeit higher valued citizen. The only sounds filling the air were the slow intake, then outtake of the higher quality gas mask, the tubes from the sleek grey machine, running down the citizen’s face before coalescing and entering his throat. AED-#210-31570 decided to speak.

“Sir, This citizen promises you they didn’t kill him, he was already dead from lack of sleep!”

The overseer opposite of him paid it no mind, slowly reviewing the footage, combing through his actions. The grand reverberations of the machine echoed

throughout the room.

“This citizen has made up their mind, and has decided to declare you free of charge. Your incident has been deemed as a one-off accident resultant by AED-#210-36753 poor work ethic and unwillingness to contribute, his immediate family shall receive demerits for their inability to have stopped his transgressions. But, that is all, you may leave. And return to your station, you have delayed the quotas by two shifts and I expect you to make up for it soon.”

AED-#210-31570 deeply thanked his superior before exiting the dreaded room and returning to his station, continuing his dull task until the work shift ended. He left confused and a tad bit saddened. No matter what he said in the questioning, he had just killed a man after all. Why was it, that in the few moments where the

man gained clarity, that there was a hint of relief in the eyes of that day's unfortunate statistic. It gave him and small amount of relief, and he hated himself for it, for running from the guilt. A true citizen is supposed to face all troubles head on and all that, and yet the man’s expression at the end, by abandoning his work, he seemed happy to give up. Was that right? Abandoning your duties like that?

AED-#210-31570 continued his melancholic walk back to his small lonely dorm as he went along with the tides of workers returning from the day shift, a small tsunami of people, overflowing into the station as the doors to the train opened and the night shift poured out, making their way past the already crowded station, gloom in their eyes and their steps heavy as another shift awaited them.

AED-#210-31570 managed looked at the signs and was the closest to happy he could get that the train was his, and he no longer had to wait. He got on, minding his step. He had seen enough work weary citizens fail to realize it was there and step right through the gap, the train simply leaving, passing over their broken bodies behind, he never wanted the next one to be him. As he got on and waited for the train to fill up, unwashed bodies pressing tightly up against one another in an effort for as many people to enter as possible. The grey monotone doors hissed and the doors shut, luckily, this time, no one was in the way.

AED-#210-31570’s train continued onward past the hanging bodies, new ones today. That was the only change. It was always a guess as to who might be the new unlucky citizen. If it ever was someone he knew, he might not even be able to tell. Not without their voice, although the personalities of these dead criminals and his adjacent work partners may as well be the same, for all he knew.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

What an awful joke, he thought to himself, this train of thought is entirely too demotivating and grim for a citizen to have, think of more positive things. There was always the worry that they would be able to tell if he disliked his life, he could imagine the condescending stares he was already getting for questioning the wonderful life of a citizen. His mind attempted to steer him back towards happiness. If I work for another week, I’ll be able to obtain enough merit for some flavour on my next meal!

Yes, that thought worked fine, he was excited about it too, some flavour for the

dreary days ahead. But what flavour to get? There were three whole flavours to choose from with his position and merit, and didn't know which generous offer to obtain.

Slowly, the train hissed yet again to a halt. He departed, making his way back to the massive super-construct, going along with the stream of people, through the red glowing lights of the lift and back to his dorm. The door sealed behind him, and he took off his mask and began to clean it. Taking care to clean the parts that had gotten dirty with blood, he wiped and wiped with the corner of his blanket, examining every part and making sure the filtration had nothing blocking it.

As he laid down onto his bed and popped a nutrition pill into his mouth, his service screen beeped, as he read what it said he sighed, then immediately corrected his posture to be as joyful as possible. To make up for his infraction, starting tomorrow, he was going to have to work two extra night shifts. He went to sleep ready for another day of rewarding, important contributions to his homeland. As he would the day after and after that, forever until he was no longer able to function.

He woke up again, at first, his thoughts were muddled and hazy, but the nutrition pill helped, or it would’ve if he could find it. His hands dug around the empty canister, desperately searching for the small white pill that kept him functioning. Alas, it was not to be found. He checked the time ‘06:50’, he still had time to make an order. He pounced at the tablet which was inbuilt to the wall, frantically he swiped past the merit options, the overlays of his personality and his citizen satisfaction score; scrolling down past the war developments at cerblume 5 and entered the citizen needs section. Some button presses later and after only the smallest amount of identifying information, he had ordered his nutrition pill and all that waited was collection.

AED-#210-31570 made his way up the steps, the bright artificial lights blinding his

eyes as he climbed one step after the other, throughout the air was the sound of an omnipresent hum which set him slightly on edge. He swallowed and moved through the tide of fellow citizens to the train, its massive length running up and down the station in the same monochrome hue, And what a station it was.

Massive waves of citizens and workers crashed against the platforms and walkways that infested the place, the same pleasant feminine sounding voice announcing in a dozen different places which of the trains were present and where they were going. The top of the station was raised so high that he would have to crane his neck all the way to actually see where the top was, not that he would, Given how it would make him stand out. Where detached, hovering, concentric rail lines ran through to dock the larger hyperloop trains carrying the cargo needed to keep the factories supplied. They were brutish, ugly things, meant to maximize as much space as possible, enchanted with larger

dimensions inside than out and lacking any sort of human carrying capacity in the slightest. They fulfilled the same purpose as the passenger trains, though, for all their extra expenses. To transport as much material as possible to where it could be the most useful.

Now that was a good thought, AED-#210-31570 thought, his usefulness was his purpose, and the thesis to his happiness, because that’s what they said, and they couldn’t be wrong. He made his way inside the train, as well as with every one else, and grabbed the first handhold available. Off the train went, although this time there was no window to pass the time, just the huddled bodies of other citizens pressed against him.

He was grateful for the mask in situations like these, its processed air, and acrylic aftertaste masking the stench of the unwashed masses. He noticed the similarity of the citizens surrounding him, the identical wear and uncompromising sameness beating a hammer against his tire mind, before the voice announced his stop and he pushed his way off.