The Twelve Days

[Sunday, 19 December, 2258 | A Christmas Party]

Virginia’s ears feel like they’re about to start gushing blood.  A sharp siren has filled her head; a violent preamble to a transmission being made directly into her Nanny chip.

“It is 1:00pm, Sunday, December 19,” The transmission is courtesy of Ms. Nagal.  “This means that you have your weekly hour to socialise in the quadrangle.  As we are in the lead up to Christmas, treats will be available.”

The child has gotten used to the sound of her cell door screeching open, but finds cacophony of all the other doors opening along with it rather unpleasant.  One positive the girl can find, however, are her restraints loosening, releasing her body and allowing her to climb off the chair.  Virginia peers around the door to see swathes of people—from what she can tell, all of them grownups; no children amongst them—motioning through the corridor.

A heavily tattooed man that Virginia assesses to be at least seven and a half feet tall with the physique of a professional wrestler startles Virginia by popping his head into her cell.

“C’mon, kid,” he says.  “Ms. Nagal hates it when we’re late.”

As the man shuffled along the corridor by the crowd, Virginia takes a deep breath and joins the sea of inmates.  Looking around her surroundings, she thinks that most of her fellow inmates are from the city’s slums, poor unfortunates subjected to heightened monitoring, due to their socioeconomic status as people more likely to commit crimes.

Virginia exits the concrete corridor to find herself in the concrete quadrangle.  There is a large table stationed against one of the walls, covered in platters holding synthetic food.  There is no signage saying what flavours these foods contain, which must be why the other inmates are avoiding it.  She also notices that there are a number of soldiers stationed around the quadrangle’s perimeter.  Dressed all in black, including the visors hiding their faces, and holding automatic weapons, the soldiers are frightening, but not as frightening as the snipers watching from the four bell towers.

Virginia walks across to the table.  Flavours be damned, she’s barely eaten over the last five days.  As she reaches across the table to try a synthetic cube, the girl feels a chunk of metal resting on her shoulder.

As she turns to see who is touching her, Virginia receives a warning about the food.  “I wouldn’t eat it if I were you, kid,” the wrestler from the corridor says.  Virginia takes a good look at him, reassessing his height to be at least eight feet tall.  It looks like the skin has been melted away from his hands, revealing makeshift robotics.  “All this shit’s been cooked with nanoparticles.”  As unsure of what, exactly, a nanoparticle is, Virginia always thought they were illegal.  “The camp rolls these out sometimes to dampen our intelligence.  It makes it too hard to rebel if we have no idea what we’re rebelling against.”

“But…but I’m hungry,” the girl says.

“Okay, come with me,” the wrestler says.  “The name’s Del.”

“Virginia.  Virginia Northbridge.”

“Nice to meet you, Virginia,” Del says.  “It’s a hell of a time for you to be here, on Christmas and all, and fucking barbaric to lock you up without your family.  But look around, kid.  Everyone here—well, everyone except Ms. Nagal, the soldiers, the snipers and anyone else working for YutopiCorp, is family.  We have you, okay?”

Del makes introductions, rattling off a ton of names that Virginia can’t remember.  The girl’s nerves begin to rise as the group gathers around her and Del, forming a circle around them.  She looks at Del, and he offers her a reassuring smile.

Del places his right hand on his left bicep and pushes gently.  The skin on his bicep separates, and opens up like a door.  He slips his fingers inside.

“What flavour would you like?  “Coffee?  Bourbon?” Del asks the girl.  “Ah, I know: chocolate.”

Del pulls out two wrapped nutrition bars and slips them into Virginia’s hand.  “Here, keep these hidden,” he says.  “One should last you a good week, so take two to be safe.  They’re one hundred per cent nanoparticle-free, and believe me, they’re so fucking good.”

Virginia’s sincere “thank you” is drowned out by a loud bang echoing throughout the quadrangle, startling all the inmates.  All the inmates, except for Del, that is—he simply drops to the ground, his head hitting the pavement as blood pours from his heart, over his chest and down to the ground.

“Del!  Del!” the girl yells, tears streaming down her face.

Soldiers rush the group, ripping Virginia away from her dead friend.  The others in her family attempt to free her from the soldiers, but this only manages to enrage the soldiers, who take great pleasure in kicking the absolute shit out of them.  Amidst the chaos, the sharp siren fills the girl’s head again.  “This Christmas party is over,” Ms. Nagal’s voice informs her.