So yeah, this is a short story I wrote for English. That means it's sorta dodgymafied by the limits I've got. I'm meant to get a few people to read it and get their feedback, so constructive criticism would be nice. I'm not that proud of it, but eh, it's ok. BUT WITH YOUR HELP IT WILL BE MARVELLOUS.


-----------------------------------------------------


�Synaptic Slavery�

The tiny spinning razor whirred and screamed. He gripped the tool and smoothly lowered it into a freshly shaved patch of scalp, just above the neck. The wailing of the blade was muffled slightly as it met blood-drained flesh, and became a prolonged moan as it carved through the skull. With rehearsed precision, he sliced out a neat circle of bone, gently pried it away from the head and put it to one side. Replacing the razor with a pair of forceps, he carefully examined the grey matter contained within. He motioned to retrieve the object.

�Dan, did you watch the visi-feed I told you about? I could transmit it to you now, if you would like?�

Dan pulled away from the woman�s skull.

�Joe, please refrain from such distractions while I am conducting an extraction. You would do well to remember that Decree Number 43 insists on Node Standby mode while in the workplace.�

Dan felt the endorphins of positive reinforcement, courtesy of the Supervising Moderator, beamed directly to his node. The corners of his mouth twitched into an involuntary smile.

�Understood. I apologise. I will return to my duties and allow you to do the same,� said Joe, and he returned to cleaning a nearby table. Dan nodded, satisfied with the resolution of the conflict.

Ahhh, you�re a killjoy. You hardly ever mess around with your chip. That�s what they�re there for you know. The entire world at your fingertips, or your brainstem, more like. Haha!

Dan�s eyes widened with terror. He quickly silenced his dissenting thoughts and re-focussed on his task.

He looked back down at the body lying on the table. With his forceps, he lifted a small green object from the grey matter within the skull belonging to a young woman - suicide victim. Not surprising; the suicide rates in Sector 7 had been rising steadily for months. For a few moments, he held the implant before him, admiring its complex circuitry. Then he placed it in a nearby container and snapped it firmly shut. He picked up the box and placed in a freezer in the left wall of the lab. Then he wheeled the table with the woman�s body to the opposite wall where a large circular chute led down into darkness. As he felt the usual warm gust of air rising from the abyss, he pushed the body off the stretcher and into the hole, where it slid away and quickly disappeared. Every day, he did this. That was his job, removing tiny implants from dead bodies, storing them in the freezer and sending the bodies away. Where the bodies and the chips went, what was done with them - of these things he was uncertain. But he didn�t need to know. He was just one tiny cog in a gigantic machine; one chipped Citizen of The Network.

�Two more bodies and I�ll sign out for the weekend,� said Dan.

�It will be a shame to be away from serving the Administrator for even two days, but that is the Law. I myself appear to have fulfilled my duties. If there is nothing else, I must sign out now,� said Joe.

�Very well. I shall see you first thing back here on Monday,� said Dan. Joe nodded, removed his surgical mask and lab coat, hung them on a rack by the door and left.

Dan went back to his work, repeating the same chip extraction process with the two remaining bodies: both Lasters - those who had reached their optimal age before dying of natural termination.

At last, he put the day�s final chip into its container, sealed it and placed it in the freezer. When he returned to work after the weekend, they would all be gone. Every day he came back, ready to cut open every body, extract every chip, fill every container and leave them there to be taken away before the next day. This was his job. This was all he needed to know.

He went to put away his mask and lab coat. As he was hanging them on the rack, he felt something in the right breast pocket. Puzzled, he reached in and pulled out a small silver container, similar to those he had just finished filling with chips.

Don�t remember sneaking that in, do you? Take another one, go on. They haven�t noticed the other times. Why would they this time? What other fun do you get anyway? Steal her chip!

Dan began trembling. He feared punishment, but the voice in his head seemed to speak such wonderful sense. What harm could it do? Checking, he could hear no footsteps outside, stepped over to the freezer, careful not to focus too much on his disobedient thoughts, just in case. Opening the door, he took the nearest container, marked �Phillips, Judith Ann - suicide� and with a trembling pair of tweezers moved the chip into his container, and placed it in his hip pocket. The other container he put back into the freezer. Empty.

Dan had done this many a time. The first time he�d risked it was two years ago. He�d snuck a chip home, on some strange whim from the voice in his head. He didn�t know why he did it; why he actually listened to the voices that had kept returning since that day. Certainly, there were the financial benefits, but mostly it just felt right to him. Somewhere, right at the back of his mind, maybe it�s what kept him from going insane, this little act of rebellion every once in a while.

That first chip, he had taken to the relative safety of his apartment, sat down at his desk and tinkered all night, exploring the possibilities of the chip. He�d always wanted to know more about these little things that were so much a part of life for the population, wanted a glimpse of the genius behind The Administrator�s creation. Since then, he�d taken many chips, usually once every few months, sometimes in two consecutive weeks. Sometimes he just tinkered with them, admiring their craftsmanship. Other times, they had more practical uses. These chips, like the one that had spent years entrenched in Judith Phillips� skull, the doors they opened, the access they allowed and all of their ex-owner�s thoughts and memories, Dan could deal with them as he saw fit. Usually, he�d put them on the black market. Going to the highest bidder: information, escape from the Lower Sectors, satisfaction of morbid curiosity or whatever, for a price. Step right up.

It was a great supplementary income and he figured, if he was sharing the wonder of The Network, it was alright. Still, he never let himself get caught. Just think the right thoughts and don�t look too suspicious. It hadn�t failed him yet.

And this chip in particular had a customer who was very willing, eager and prepared to pay handsomely. Closing the laboratory door behind him, Dan went to sign out and headed home.

*

Splashes of red and turquoise collided with the canvas. Brushstrokes moved in unison with music. As the cadence rose, a bold streak of blue dashed to the corner. She moved in time to the melody, brush in hand. The pale white background was all but overrun with seven types of psychadelic rainbow, which grew and morphed as she put brush to paper. The music faded. She stood back and admired her work; her newly created image of bold shades and movement. Smiled.

�A masterpiece,� she declared to the stillness of her apartment.

A knock at the door.

�Zoe! Open up!� demanded a voice from the passage beyond. She sighed, placed her brush in a jar of murky liquid and went to open the door, negotiating mountains of books, easels and a crate full of dirty cutlery.

�Naota,� she said, nodding to the man standing in her doorway.

�Hey, how�s it going girl? Woah, you seem bummed. Did I interrupt something?� asked Naota.

�No, it�s fine. Just finished a piece is all.�

�Isn�t that what you�d call a good thing? Oh, or is it no good?�

�No, it�s not that. I just got a major wave of bad juju feelings, like just as I was walking to the door here.�

�Ah well, I got the perfect thing to take your mind offa that! There�s a People�s Movement meeting down the block right now. I thought you�d be interested. They�ve got all sorts of groovy speakers lined up.�

Zoe sighed and stared back at her painting. It seemed to communicate something intangible to her. The abstract swirls seemed to hint that she should go with Naota.

�...Sure. I guess my afternoon meditation can wait until later.� She took her scarf from the hall stand and headed out, pulling the door shut behind.

�That�s the spirit! It�ll do ya good to get out,� said Naota, as they headed down the hallway. As they were about to descend the stairs leading outside, a nearby door swung open and out came a withered old woman dressed in a shawl.
She stared at Zoe, pointing an arthritic finger, then spoke in a quavering tone,

�You! The master will trap you and your shining star, though the noodle be hardy. His mutilation will be undone, yet combine the two ways discarded. Take heed!� And with that she nodded and went back into her room, slamming the door behind.

�What�s with her?� asked Naota.

�Oh, that�s Mrs. Lucille. I�ve gotten some palm readings and stuff from her a few times. She�s alright. I think she has the gift, actually. One time she warned me about a �devil shrouded in white� and that day, I was nearly wiped out by a guy in white clothes on a bicycle!�

Naota raised his eyebrows in interest.

They continued on outside, away from the slanted block of flats and down the street to where a crowd was flooding an intersection, focussed on a voice coming from their centre.

�...And last night, I did have a dream, my friends,� said the man with the megaphone standing on a cargo container. �I believe it symbolised a new hope for our people. I saw a woman with shining blue hair who flew to the world beyond the sky.� He raised his hands above his head.

Like many in the crowd, Zoe stared up at the sky above - a dull steel grey as usual. Another star had winked out. She frowned and pondered. They had these rallies all the time. Zoe had heard wild stories about those who took it upon themselves to go on a quest for the People�s Movement, of those who brought back stories of adventure in faraway lands, and of those who never returned. How those ones managed to get their stories told, that was a mystery.

�Yes, and I believe it means that someone here is brave enough to venture to the world above. Someone to spread our people�s words all over the heavens and the earth. Someone to find the shining star of hope!�

Zoe stared at the speaker. She felt a burst of something within her. Almost like d�j� vu and yet...

�I�ll do it!� she yelled above the rabble. And she began to run through the bustling crowd towards the man with the megaphone.

�Zoe!� Naota yelled after her, �just because he said she had blue hair doesn�t mean...�

�It feels right! Trust me!� She called back and climbed onto the cargo container. The megaphone man took her hand and raised it in triumph. She looked over the crowd that was cheering her name, not even knowing what quest she was about to be sent on. Her horoscope had said that today was a day for something outrageous.

*

�We apologise for any inconvenience. This Teleport Terminal is closed for maintenance�, the voice said to Dan. This time it was the computerised, friendly tone typical of the Network, not the coaxing voice he sometimes heard within his mind.

Dan almost groaned. Instead he mentally switched his node from standby to active mode and interfaced with a satellite map. There was always a slight buzz of being connected to the global network of every chipped human and computer server that made up and maintained the system. Just the slightest wonderful possibility that The Administrator himself could, through some complex interconnection of nodes and computers, be connected directly to his mind was nearly too much for him. He focussed. Within seconds, an outline of the surrounding city blocks was an overlay on his regular vision. It was a good number of city blocks to the next Terminal. Dan would have to grin and bear it. A part of him didn�t mind. In fact, sometimes he quite enjoyed walking for some reason. It was more peaceful than the crowds that constantly milled back and forth from hub to hub at the terminal and it was nice to breathe the fresh air, mill over his thoughts, rather than getting from A to B without any effort. Walking seemed more�significant or honest than instant teleportation.

He refocussed most of his mind away from those illogical thoughts. He couldn�t let on what he was thinking. As long as one didn�t focus on these �rebellious� thoughts for too long, you�d be safe. It was expected that some errant thoughts would occur. They�d only pick up and focus on your thoughts if you kept at them. And you can�t help the way you think, thought Dan. Or can you? Dan caught himself out again. He was dwelling on it too much, thinking too much about the box in his pocket; so he again focussed on the right thoughts.

He had to focus on doing normal everyday things, so he set his node to browse the news radio stations. It helped to �use the wonderful information finding abilities of the Neural Implant that was only awarded to the True Citizens of the Global Community.� The thought always remained at the back of his mind though. How much he loathed never being able to think outside what was expected of him. How he was meant to do his duty as an implant extraction surgeon, live his simple life and enjoy all the wonderful benefits that were available to him, never questioning or demanding anything.

So in a way, his little black market hobby gave him a little bit of meaning and purpose. His tiny slice of rebellion every day. He could only pause to consider it for a few moments, but it kept him happy. He knew that he was all the while helping others to feel free and all it took was a little chip. For some it was like a prison; for others it was their salvation. Sure, he would probably get caught some day. But at least in this regard, he�d never backed down.

Five blocks on, past other medical and government complexes and neat little official government gardens, he reached the next teleport terminal. Most passersby were heading either in or out. Usually, the streets were rarely this busy. People just used the teleporters to get around. It was more convenient.

He too joined the orderly lines of people heading in, stepping through the sliding doors into a gigantic circular room. It was like being inside a giant tin can, with dozens of doors opening and closing on the walls. Each time one opened, groups of approximately twenty people would walk either in or out, in neat orderly file. Other doors opened to reveal huge crates and steel boxes - cargo shipments. Teleportation had become the sole mode of transportation for both humans and goods. Dan interfaced with the directions program, found where the gate to his apartment was and headed to the appropriate door.


�Destination: Sector 7?�

�Yes�, Dan replied psychically to the electronic conductor. The hatch at the end of the passage slid open, revealing a swirling green circular portal, like a whirlpool in an emerald sea. It was hypnotically beautiful, but this was business as usual for Dan. He walked up the small ramp and marched into the vortex. He felt a slight lurch in his stomach and then stepped out on the other side, hundreds of kilometres in another direction, a whole new residential sector of the Metropolis, to the street where he lived. He marched out of the teleport terminal, identical to the one he had just left.

Walking the final block, just a few buildings from his apartment, a conversation request icon flashed in the top left of his vision. He accepted. As he leaned against a nearby wall, a box appeared framing a familiar man�s face. He was wearing a black cloak.

�You still clear on our deal, eh bro?�

He had the crude speech of the Lessers. Disgusting.

�Yes...I know. We are to meet at precisely 1140 hours tomorrow.�

�Yup. Ok, good. And don�t forget to bring the chip. I got plenty�a dough for ya.� Dan froze in fear. He couldn�t give it all away and have the Moderators track this unlawful conversation. It was so much easier to pick them up compared to regular thoughts.

�I�ll be there,� Dan transmitted hastily before cutting off the link. The box went blank. Dan stood there against the wall frozen, checking, looking, waiting for the sign they had heard him.

He heard movement in the alley nearby and willed himself to look. Was that a shadowy figure running out the opposite end? No, has to be a mental anomaly. He held his breath, clenched his eyes shut and thought good thoughts. Listening, waiting for any other sign that he had been found out. He stood rigid against the wall, straining his ears to the hum of the Metropolis and his active implant. Listening

Nothing.

He breathed a sigh of relief and composed himself. His hands were shaking violently. He turned his Implant back down to Standby mode, walked over to his apartment complex and took the lift to his floor.

But you could never really turn it off. Sure, you could stop other people from initiating conversations with you and stop concentrating half on reality and half on controlling the computer in your brainstem, knowing all the effectively infinite information of The Network was just a thought away. But they always had control. Thoughts and memories were always being recorded inside the vast memory and processing power of the implant. Constant rebel thoughts were being routinely monitored. One day, you may receive the official transmission that told you to stay where you were, you were about to be taken into custody. He�d heard about it before.

They were the rulers. They were the overseers. Under the command of The Administrator, they were the leaders of the global network of information, people, minds, cities, computers, economies and teleportation. Even planets now. Earth�s moon and even Mars had bases linked to Earth by teleportation terminal. Everything was but a step or a thought away. Theoretically, if you wanted to witness the sun set from the tip of the Pyramids of Giza, that was just a short trip down the street to the nearest teleporter. But none of the teleporters led out of the cities. He wasn�t even sure if there was anything outside the Metropolis. And anyway, no Citizen would bother with such unproductive pursuits. One could (during a leisure period) always just request a direct simulation of any ideal holiday destination from the Network Archives. Endless choice and endless possibility.

And yet, where was the choice to opt of out this, Dan wondered? Where was the choice to have your own space? Where was a place where he could find his own way and not be told or influenced? Surely there was somehow something more to life than this. Something simple. Something real. Something�

Again, Dan realised he was thinking about all this far too much today. He was home and at leisure. He hung his satchel on the wall, his cat greeting him with an affectionate rub against his legs and a purr. Dan scratched its green fur and stared into its three eyes. Gene modded was the standard nowadays. Just a random peculiarity chosen especially for you. Six legs, no tail, two heads? Easy enough in the gene lab. He wasn�t even sure if real plants or animals existed outside of the Megacities anymore. Most information like that was censored out by The Network filters. Control The Network and you control what people see and know.

Enough was enough. Dan was far too ribald in his thoughts tonight. He took the small box from his pocket and placed it in his freezer. Out of sight, out of mind. He prepared himself a meal, lay down on his bed, tuned his node to his favourite afternoon sitcom while browsing the Network Community Boards and making a few business calls. As the transmissions filled his vision, the numbers, text, icons, colours and simulations numbing his mind, he relaxed and didn�t think about anything. A few hours later, he retired to sleep in anticipation of the next day. His subconscious wandered freely.

*

Zoe strutted out of �Alfonso�s All Purpose Medical Centre and Herbal Remedies� with a smile on her face, clutching a scrap of paper. After parading her to the crowd as this month�s quest taker and saviour, the megaphone man had handed her this sheet of parchment and hastily whispered instructions in her ear, before sending her on her way. This quest sounded very interesting. Apparently, she was to meet the �lightbringer� in an alley just off the main bazaar. There she was to tell him that she was the one he had been searching for and she needed him to follow her to Alfonso�s, where he would help her open her mind. It was all rather cryptic, but Zoe was excited. She began to head in the direction of the bazaar.

Halfway, she felt a growling from her stomach.

�Well, how about that! I haven�t even had myself some breakfast.� Zoe proclaimed to nobody in particular.

Though she knew she was meant to follow the instructions precisely, she was never one to walk the line, so she thought she�d stop by her place on the way to the bazaar. There she could get something to eat, maybe pick up a paperback too. She wasn�t sure how long she�d have to wait in that alley.

As she was approaching her block of flats, she looked up at her window, and the balcony that overlooked the whole town.

�How terribly dufferish of me! Did I really leave my window open?� she declared to a nearby flowerbed.

With that thread of doubt, a figure clothed in black stepped out of her apartment and onto the balcony. She gasped in fear. It looked down at her. She could sense his hostility.
�Miss, stop right there. We must talk,� it boomed. She turned tail and ran back into the narrow sidestreets of shanties and abandoned factories. Ran and ran, never looking back. When her breathing became a wheeze, she stopped in an alley and checked the main road. It was clear.

�Phew! Lost him!� she sighed. Nothing in the instructions warned of enemies against her in this quest! But that was to be expected, she supposed.

Then she looked around and realised she was in an area she barely recognised. The drumming in her temples began to slow and fade, and she set about finding her way back to the bazaar.

Though it took her a good half hour, she finally found the bazaar. She got herself some food and began scoffing it down. While contemplating her quest over a roll, she remembered she didn�t know how soon she was meant to meet the �lightbringer�. It was probably meant to be straight away! Still chewing her roll, she ran towards the alley far up the other end of the bazaar. What had she gotten herself into? She just hoped she wasn�t too late...


*


Dan awoke early, with his final dreams lingering in his mind. An advertisement for a new line of clothing and the opening of another shopping megacomplex, if he recalled, just before he had been jolted awake. He�d probably remember exactly what he was supposed to buy the next time he went shopping. Then he remembered what the day was all about.

He headed to his kitchen and opened the freezer, just to check the chip was still there, even though he had no reason to believe it wouldn�t be. He took it out and put it on the kitchen table, prepared himself some cereal and just sat there, sitting and munching away, staring at the box, feeling a mixture of fear and anticipation. If nothing else, this little act of defiance made him feel more alive. Nothing in the virtual game worlds was as good as taking a real risk, he thought.

Preparing to leave, he couldn�t help taking a peek at the box halfway through. Then he realised he was again focussing on it too much. At any moment, the Moderators could be watching, like surveillance cameras just behind his eyelids. His body was not entirely his own and he could never be too careful. So instead, he thought of how much he�d love to try out that exciting new line of clothing and what a difference an upgraded refrigerator would make to his kitchen setup.

Soon enough though, he was all ready. He put the box into his satchel and tucked it away underneath his other supplies. Heading out the door, he couldn�t help checking the box one last time.

He left the apartment complex and headed to the Teleport Terminal which, fortunately, was working to its usual capacity.

This time he headed to a different Teleporter, the one leading to the Lower Sectors.

Certainly, very few bothered to frequent the Lower Sectors. Citizens didn�t want to associate with Lessers unless they had to, and Lessers were either terrified of or aggressive towards Citizens.

Down there were only beggars, swindlers, underground markets and the general Lesser population. For this reason, anyone who ventured down there was bound to get special monitoring attention. So from there on he forced any errant thoughts out of his mind. He had a job to do.

�Destination: Lower Sectors?�
�Yes�, Dan replied. He again went through the swirling green gateway, momentarily felt as if his skin was being pulled from their bones and then stepped out on the other side, hundreds of metres below the Earth�s surface; the underground world of the Lessers. This was the sole gateway between the two worlds. There was no danger of any Lessers tainting the outside world, however. Only those who were chipped could travel through the portals. Any unchipped making the attempt would simply disappear into nothingness, combust into billions of atoms, as there was no way to home in on their signal between the two points. That was how they were designed; that was how the system was designed. Simple but effective control measures.

He stepped out of the complex.

Thank you for using the Teleport operation service from Upper Sector 7, East Block Terminal to Lower Sectors Terminal.

Once at the bottom, there was a booth with a guard inside. Another security checkpoint.
�Stand in the scanning module, please,� said the guard. Dan did as he was told. The scanner examined the chip in Dan�s brainstem, confirmed that everything was in order and remained unaware of little Judith Phillips in her lead box. The guard waved him through. Dan felt a rush of pride about his higher genetic quality and subsequent employment prospects, compared to this guard. His job really was wonderful in comparison.

So Dan wandered down the dim streets. Everything here seemed to be various shades of grey or brown. All beneath a murky steel sky, with star-like lamps to simulate real light. It was a sharp contrast to the sterile beige tones of Upper Sector 7. He again felt immensely satisfied with his position in life. Travelling through the Lower Sectors always made him feel this way.

Dan had learnt in his Second Stage Education Download that the Lessers were down here because they weren�t good enough for the Upper Sectors. They lacked the education, the skills, or suitable physical characteristics. Most importantly, they all lacked a chip. From birth, one would be genetically screened and tested. Those that were suitably proficient and unblemished would be chipped, the others relegated to live underground. Of course, some had simply chosen to be a part of the Lessers. They didn�t like the idea of being chipped, thought it impeded their freedom or some such nonsense. And so, there were two separate societies, the Lessers and the Citizens.

Well, today I�m going to give one of them the opportunity they deserve, thought Dan. He didn�t see the slight insanity in his thinking. But in a way, everyone was insane.

Past the street stalls and the shouting vendors, through crowds of grimy Lesser workers in overalls and particularly oddly dressed street performers. Dan felt more and more out of place. None of them would dare make trouble with a Citizen though. If they laid one hand on Dan, he could just put out a distress call for a squad of Moderators, and they�d make an example out of the entire city block. These people meant little to most Citizens. Sometimes Dan wondered why the Administrator didn�t just exterminate the lot of them. The Administrator was benevolent, though. Dan too felt something resembling kindness towards them. At the least he wanted to give them the same opportunity to live a life as part of The Network. But sometimes, Dan didn�t really know one way or the other. It was almost like a split-personality. But he was just doing the best he could.

Soon, he reached the alleyway where he�d planned to meet his contact. It was more difficult to get around the Lower Sectors, he had to rely on his instructions, rather than a satellite map, like usual. Finally, he arrived at the alleyway, between a tavern and what looked like a warehouse, near the end of the market area. He headed down the thin dingy gap between buildings. He stopped halfway through and waited by a dumpster, as per his contact�s instructions. He waited a good five minutes.

He went over the instructions his contact had originally sent in a grainy voice recording. Somehow these Lessers always managed to find a way to broadcast a message to him, without the aid of chips. Perhaps they also had to get help from any Citizens that were passing through. That was the real gap between the Lessers and Citizens; they had no practical way to communicate and had barely any common ground. If you wanted to meet other Citizens, all one had to do was chat with them directly over the invisible network. After floating to a server, it would be sent directly to the chip and mind of the recipient. It really was a kind of magic, thought Dan. Then he checked himself. Magic. Preposterous!

He continued to wonder about the genius of the chips. Through the air, checked through one of the server�s complex filters to verify nothing untoward was being conversed about. Strings of words like �I hate the administrator� or �down with the network�, for example, would result in an instant warrant directed to you and your chip. But of course, very few could even conceive of such absurd thoughts. Dan thought he may have once, but regardless would never send one over The Network. Just as long as they didn�t catch him thinking, he was fine. But still, his contact had not arrived. He wished there was a way to contact her as he could with anyone else. But that too was a laughable idea. On the whole, Citizens and Lessers had nothing to talk about. Nothing in common. The only thing they were good for was profiting from. That�s why he had to change them. He waited.

Just as he was getting a little too nervous, doubtful and impatient, his contact finally arrived running up the alley way. At least, he thought it to be. But this was clearly an unfamiliar female. His contact had been a male though! Still, she was clearly coming towards him.

He�d never seen anything quite like it before. She was bounding up the other end of the alley. The closest comparison he could think of was with a bird he�d seen in a genemod petshop one time. Her hair was blue, of all colours and it flowed past her shoulders and was flicking this way and that. When she came near, she flashed him a smile, then bent over and let out some deep breaths, threw away a half eaten roll and picked something out of her teeth.
�Sorry I�m late! Um, I mean...Greetings, Lightbringer. I have waited for quite a time. I am the one you seek and wish to lead you to Alfonso�s so you may open my mind,� she said, then nodded, as if confirming what she said was correct. These Lessers always acted strangely but this one had to be the most odd so far.

�Greetings. Do you have an arranged safe location, an implanting station and transfer of credits to my chips account?� Dan replied. He started walking out of the alley.
�Zuh? Isn�t this safe enough? I uh, I think I�m meant to go to Alfonso�s, where you are to...open my mind.� Dan spun around.
�You are not speaking sense, Lesser girl. Now tell me what�s going on here,� he said angrily.

�Jeez, for the guiding light of my quest you sure are uptight,� she said. �Look, the guy at the People�s Movement Rally was calling for someone take on one of his quests. They do them all the time. I always wondered if they were for real, so I volunteered. Now I�m meant to take you to Alfonso�s where you are to �open my mind� and I can continue my quest. You do look and sound like one of those guys that sometimes come through the ring of jade fire...so I guess you must be sent from the heavens to assist me.�

Dan was completely bemused. He had a feeling neither of them really knew what was going on. Regardless, he wanted to get this deal over and done with.

�Very well. Lead me to this...Alfonso�s,� replied Dan.



Zoe led Dan along the streets past the market, past ramshackle houses and disused factories.

�So... what�s it like, the world above the sky?� Zoe asked eventually.

�You will see soon enough. You will witness the immense glory of The Network and the supreme will of the Administrator,� replied Dan.

�Sounds a bit heavy,� said Zoe, then she looked at Dan and added, �you have nice eyes.�

He looked at her, puzzled. She smiled back and something stirred deep in the recesses of Dan�s subconscious. He looked forward to curing her of this nonsensical nature.

Finally, they had arrived at a small building that resembled a shack rather than a surgery.
And the sign out the front did read �Alfonso�s�. She led him around the back to a flyscreen door near a group of dumpsters in dire need of a waste management engineer. Dan had never smelt anything so disgusting before.

Through the door, they emerged into a clean enough surgery that vaguely resembled his laboratory back on the surface. He noticed the thickness of the grey walls compared to the flimsy construction otherwise found in the buildings he�d seen down here. Insulation.

�This should stop them spying on what I�m doing,� said Dan tapping the walls. �But we�ll have to be quick, before they get suspicious of my signal disappearing from the screens.�

�Uh yeah, whatever. This is the place they rented out for us. Sooo, what do we do now? Do I get to conduct a ceremony, or partake of some mystical herbal refreshments...or perhaps both?� asked Zoe, raising and lowering her eyebrows most peculiarly.

�Get on the table,� commanded Dan as he rummaged around the room, searching for the suitable surgical instruments.

�Well now, you don�t waste any time, do ya?� exclaimed Zoe, and she did as she was told.

When Dan had everything laid out, he focussed a surgical lamp on her and placed a gasmask over her face. Despite her protests, she soon faded into blissful anaesthetised sleep. They were always grateful afterwards anyway.

It was just as easy to put in a chip as it was to take it out. Simply slice out the appropriate circle of skin and skull, and insert the chip. The nanotech AI within the implant would do the rest. The only problem was waiting for her body to adjust and accept the chip. Usually people had years to let their body adapt to this foreign body. She would have to do so in a matter of minutes.

He could tell it had synchronised with the flow of her synapses, as her body was starting to jerk into spasms. It was like strapping your mind into another brain or a supercomputer. It could be overwhelming. He knew he had to work quickly. He sewed and stitched and grafted. Just as he had put her head back together again, she was coming out of the coma.

�It�s too much. Ugh...argh!� she cried. �all the people, words, numbers...flowing...too much....noo!� Her eyes were clenched shut, as she struggled through a cyberspace nightmare. Dan held her down, waiting for the synchronisation process to run its course.

Eventually, her body stopped its convulsions. She was soaked in sweat but had accepted the uplink to the rest of humanity. She would learn to grasp its awesome power in time. She awoke and looked at Dan. All that information. She would now realise what a gift Dan had given her. This was the moment he cherished the most, when he had converted someone to the glory of the Network.

�I�m okay now. And I understand. I now know what the rest of my quest is. The Network has shown it to me. You will come with me back to the Teleporter to the surface,� said Zoe, staring at him in an odd manner. Dan nodded and pulled more suitable clothing for her to wear out of his satchel. Her floral dress and beads would not do at all in the world above. He headed outside as she changed and she emerged a few moments later.

�Excellent. This way,� said Dan.

So they headed back through the detritus, the houses and tumbling down buildings beneath a steel sky to the Teleporter Terminal. Entering, the security guard hardly gave Zoe a second glance. His glazed over eyes suggested he was probably watching a baseball game.

Location please, asked the Network directly into the minds of Dan and Zoe. She was only mildly surprised. Information was likely constantly downloading into her mind, responding to her every query.

Upper Sector 3, Southwest Block, Biotechnology District, responded Dan.

�Prepare yourself and just...don�t think,� said Dan, turning to Zoe as they walked up the ramp and Zoe plunged into the abyss for the first time.

She stepped out on the other side, nearly staggered and fell. Instead, she turned around to Dan. Dan was about to ask her one last thing that had been on his mind since the first moment he saw her. But she spoke first.

�Woo, that was a hell of a thing! Alrighty, so I�m off to go bring down the Network now! Big kaboom! That�s my quest!� smiled Zoe as she ran over to embrace Dan. �Seeya later!� she squealed and ran out of the Terminal, pushing past the ordered lines of Citizens.

No! She hasn�t been converted. What�s going on! Nothing�s right here. She�s gonna get us both arrested. A crazy Lesser freak girl charging directly into the belly of the beast, the heart of Metropolis! No! It wasn�t meant to happen like this! None of this is right! No!

Then, the voice was everything and Dan knew it was all over. All his other senses seemed handicapped compared to the voice that spoke throughout all existence.

DAN AND ZOE. STAY WHERE YOU ARE. THE MODERATORS ARE COMING TO COLLECT YOU.

They both collapsed to the floor, seemingly from fear, though it may have been the automatic remote disabling function in their chips. They fell into what were either convulsions of panic or an electronic inhibitor shock. It was as if God had spoken directly to their souls, informing them they had incurred his wrath and were to face judgement. The Administrator had found them. Dan and Zoe slipped into unconsciousness, awaiting their punishment.

In a matter of minutes, the doors slid open and shut, the crowd subsided and the dark arms dragged them away.

*

Dan awoke in a dark room, naked. His eyes adjusted and he saw Zoe on the other side of the room. His mouth tasted of gravel and lead. Suddenly the voice returned like a punch in the face, nearly as bad as before.

DAN, ZOE. THIS IS THE ADMINISTRATOR. I WISH TO MEET YOU.

It almost gave Dan hope to be hearing the voice of the alpha and the omega, to be going face to face with his Lord and Master. But he knew he had failed The Administrator. He was ashamed.

Two men clothed in black, much like the one that had been on Zoe�s balcony and the one that had sent the message to Dan put magnetic titanium cuffs on their hands and feet. They both then realised they had been manipulated by the actions of Moderators; those men in black. They lifted Dan and Zoe with ease and took them from their cell, down the hall, through a majestic wooden door to an austere room. There, they were strapped to two perpendicular tables. Dan felt like he was back in his lab, yet he was the body on the table. Soon, they heard a voice, a human one.

�Ah, Dan and Zoe in the flesh. We meet at last.�

And they saw him. He moved to the space between the two tables and considered the two of them, smiling a half smug, half compassionate grin. Yet something did not seem right to Dan. He was a rather short man, with large glasses on his face and a thinning patch of hair on his blemished head. This was The Administrator?


�What do you want, jerk!?� screamed Zoe.

�Ah, Zoe. The quintessential Lesser. Strong willed, unique, beautiful and open,� said the Administrator smiling tenderly at Zoe. He turned his eyes to the other table.

�And Dan, the archetypal Citizen. Ordered, obedient, educated, flawless.� He adjusted his glasses. �Perfect. An excellently matched pair for my next upload. You came to me just as I have arranged. A splendidly fun time I did have organising all of this. But playtime is now over, children.�

�It...it was you who was that voice in my head, then? You set this all up.� stammered Dan.

�Some of it, yes. That�s the beauty of it though. It�s almost like something led you to me. The conditions were just so perfect. It was too easy. And now I have my prize.�

�What do you want from us?� screamed Zoe.

�Hmm, well. Not a lot. Just your lives, souls and memories. All contained in those chips. Just like everyone else. But you are special I suppose. Oh, and say a little hello to Judith Phillips in there for me too, eh?.� he said, beginning to snicker and chortle to himself.

�You�re a madman!� cried Zoe.

�No, I think you�ll find that isn�t true. Just appreciate what it is that�s happening here.�

Their bodies lay prostrate on the tables, too weakened to move. Soon, he was removing their chips. They lay near catatonically, hardly able to register what was going on right before their eyes. He took the two implants over to a nearby machine.

�Yes! Now, bear witness to me! I am God! All human experience, all the knowledge of the world, infinite knowledge, infinite power.� He placed the chips into the machines receptacles and plugged himself in.

�Yes!�

The room filled with a rising hum. A glow seemed to emanate from all around. Dan and Zoe could do nothing but lie there watching the fading world, powerless. But after a time, the hum lulled.

�Wait! No! Something�s not right!�

Little did he know, he couldn�t handle it. Over the machine�s hum was a brain bursting scream, as the central server overloaded. For many miles, those in the Metropolis heard the explosion. Following that was a quick final burst from The Network. The consciousness of Dan and Zoe, their hopes, dreams and memories, locked into those chips were propagated throughout the Network, all over the Earth, to the Moon and to Mars. Every chipped person felt the consciousness of Dan and Zoe. Then, there was darkness. Like an electronic lobotomy, they were unable to connect to The Network, to one another. They were human beings, forced the face the reality of each other again.

The explosion shook the earth, it caved in a portion the size of many city blocks in the Metropolis. A hole carved in the Earth�s crust. For the Lessers, there was a hole torn in their steel sky. Eventually, a lift was constructed. The Citizens and the Lessers found they were living in the same world. Without the chips buzzing in their minds, they realised each other. Now they just had to work out what to build from the rubble, some new combination of the two societies. They had to learn to somehow live together and come together, not knowing what would result. For there were now no Citizens or Lessers, but one unique and varied people. Together, they would form something new and rich and strange.