It had been several days, I was eating and tasting some of the best things in the world. Liz and Jon both would chuckle when they would see my reaction to new foods. I was eating all the time. The purist here at the Mason house grew their own food on the roof. Not that they did not have a replicator, they did, but they choose to experience food as natural. I never had to think about it much when I was in my EC. My EC did make my life a lot easier but there was satisfaction and exhilaration in doing tasks on my own. I was starting to understand why there were purists.

The hardest part of the past few days was my moods, I was so used not to having them. Having them was scary, like a voice yelling in my head.

I sat there brooding. My arms folded. Liz sat across from me in another chair.

“I hate this, I feel so weak. I don’t even understand the stuff going on in my head.”

Liz passed me a piece of paper. On it was a list of feelings.

"I feel like a fool, like a kid. This is grade school stuff.

“It is,” She replied “All our lives we’re told not to feel, or to feel is bad. We are never told what to do with them, how to cope with them. Given drugs to wipe them out. They are simple. It takes practice to put words to how we feel. We have to stop and think about what that feeling means to us. It takes a lot of courage to feel.”

Liz was the resident doctor. There were not many purists that had achieved that title. The System allows it because the Purist needed some kind of health care. She worked in a clinic not too far from the Mason House.

“Let’s go for a walk, you got to train those muscles." She got up and helped me to my feet. At a slow pace and with Liz as a crutch, we headed up to the roof. I hated stairs.

I sat on a chair at the top of Mason House. The city sprawled in front of me and the garden was behind me. I looked at the gray and white building some towering far above. There were no windows. I never even knew about these gardens which dotted the city. I never had a window, I never wanted to look outside. The breeze caught my face and I closed my eyes. Liz crouched and rubbed my legs.

“How does this all exist?”

“Purists work under the city where drones and EC can’t go, the old parts. They provide encryption to secure data. Corporations can detect and decrypt any algorithm the System could create, but a Purist was the perfect random key. We are allowed to exist, but we are a hair away from being in servitude. It is a constant fight to keep what rights we have. To stay free.”

“Freedom? I thought I was Free. I never knew.”

“You know that game you played?”

“Yeah, Slaver,”

“You never knew this, but it is real.”

“What?”

"Yes, real. Purists are not allowed to leave the city. Leaving is criminal. The game you play is to capture purist for a bonus, Runaways."

“No?” I was staring in disbelief.

“Yes, you operated a drone.”

“That can’t be, how can that be.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“The system lies, the corporations lie and human rights suffer.”

I felt guilt, a ton of it as my heart sunk.

“I’m sorry, this is another thing that you will have to go through, another thing to think and feel about. Guilt is never pleasant.” Liz said with a caring smile, “You can always talk to me if you need to.”

“Has anyone left the dome?”

“We are not sure, that game was pretty efficient.”

“Why are you so willing to help me?”

“I’m human, you are too. You are not the first and you are not the last.”

“Are you ready?” I heard Jon’s voice behind me.

“Yes,” I replied.

I stretched my legs out and stood up, I was getting my own mobility back. I was still a little slow and exact but I was getting the hang of walking. Liz gave me a cane and a smile. I knew it was time to support myself.

All through in this life I had a morbid curiosity about purists. When I was young I was rebellious and even threaten to be one. Shame my mother and father. I never thought I would be here. I thought they were freaks. Now I see the appeal.

I have not been out of the Mason House since the ejection, Jon and I walked on the street. I awkwardly supported myself with a cane. I was already a bit tired even though my home was a few blocks away.

"Keep on going, it gets easier with time," Jon said.

“Seems so close, but far away at the same time,” I was breathing heavily.

We got to the entry of the building. Jon used his access key to call for the service elevator. The door slid open and we both boarded. The door closed and I felt the jerk as the lift shot us skyward.

The door slid open and there in front of me was my home. I entered and realized that it was small, not a home but a room. I looked around and it felt claustrophobic. Jon followed me in. I looked at my EC slumped on the floor motionless. I touched it, ran my fingers across the smooth surface. I looked at how lifeless it was and how confining it had been. How synthetic it is. I looked at it with disdain.

It protected me for so long. From what? I never had so much pleasure peeing in the morning or drinking a cold glass of water.

“Do you miss it?” Jon asked.

“Yes, I miss it sometimes when I am building my strength and I can feel the pain it takes to build it. I never felt pain in my EC, but I never felt anything real.”

I turned and looked into my terminal. Jon pulled the inputs free from the EC and pulled the cables to me.

“Here,” He said as he handed them to me.

I took them and looked at Jon, I felt a little fear looking at them. I reach up to my neck and plugged them in. The terminal flickered to life.

‘Welcome back,” The System said and displayed a string of ads.

I have not heard an ad for days now. I like the quiet. I bit my lip and allowed the ads to pass as a minor annoyance. My task window opened. There were at least a hundred messages from Robert and work. I selected a work message, one that said “Urgent”. It opened to a discharge statement, I was fired from my position.

"I figured," I muttered. Jon chuckled.

"Hey, you got me fired!"

"Sure, but there is no going back from an ejection," Jon said.

I opened the last message from Robert.

“Where are you?” Robert’s voice echoed in the room.

I felt that feeling in my gut. Guilt again. The truth is that my life and his were now separated. We played games but I don’t remember once when we talked. I deleted it as my heart grew heavy.

I transferred what money and resources that I had left to a portable asset stick and I logged off. One last series of advertisements and then the screen flickered off. I unplugged and dropped the inputs to the floor.

One last look around the lifeless, sterile, windowless room. I was one of the thousands in this building. I always thought I had everything but when I looked around I had nothing. I backed out and the door slid shut.

I followed Jon back to the elevator.

"Once you are healthy and mobile, I will set you up as a trainee," Jon told me as we walked back to Mason House.

“To fix EC’s?”

“Well, you got to do something,”

“I was thinking, something where I interacted with Purists. Something a little more real.”

“Huh,” He chuckled, “I get it.”