Chapter 1

She had been in the dark alley all night. It afforded some respite from the rain, and it isn’t like she had anywhere to go. She was crouched against a wall with her arms wrapped around her legs inside her hoodie. Little eyes staring out from under her damp, threadbare, hood as if looking past the rain and alley and out into a better future. The faint blue-ish circles around her eyes belied her actual present however: cold, hungry, and alone.

The drops were incessant. Luckily the doorway she was using for refuge was a step above the laneway which was now a brook of water interspersed with trash. No-one was walking about in this rain, and this thoroughfare wouldn’t be used much, so she was safe to stay where she was.

This part of Tokyo comprises dense apartment housing. Rows on rows of identical apartments with small terraces overhanging alleys like this one. A few streets away there are shops and amenities to support people living in this area, along with the mass transit system. The church of this jurisdiction is ‌on the far side of that strip. She should be safe from their patrols, and the rain should help too.

She itched at her arm, though she shouldn’t. The glue-like coating on the wound seemed to be doing its job. The wound was cleanly cut and now sat neatly as a thin line under the clear dressing. Hopefully it doesn’t become infected. There are enough problems as it is.

Inside her hoodie bubble of lukewarmth her hand went to her pocket, thumbing around the solitary third of a nutrition bar left in its wrapper. That’s a problem, but more of a countdown timer for when she needs to visit the butcher.

In her other pocket was what saved her, but also could destroy her.
In that pocket wrapped in cloth was a hand severed at the wrist.

In the previous century, human civilisation advanced at an exponential rate. Stone tools, weapons, the wheel, castles, combustion engines, electricity, aeroplanes, phones, space travel, the internet, biohacking, portalling, and more. The ‌time between new world-shattering technologies accelerated, further cementing the trust in technology as the future.

Capitalism, or more accurately, greed, pushed civilisation forward with constant expansion. Technology had been changing the world regularly, making the unfathomable into reality. The corporations that controlled these technologies expanded and climbed over geopolitical lines using all tools at their disposal.

Their collective might allowed them to subvert democracy any way they wished. If you weren’t supporting the corporations, you simply would not be elected. Methods such as smear campaigns, out-resourcing competitors, implanted evidence of criminal conduct, and sometimes frank assassination were used with impunity.

The trust in technology and corporations faltered when the resources failed. Humanity was a bacteria growing on a petri dish, and it had hit the walls. At first any lack of a resource was swapped to other resources where possible, but the cheery faith in technology’s ability to fix our problems began to cool.

A slow desperation grew among humanity and their leaders to provide for their subjects. The corporations blamed the government as they were supposed to advocate for its citizens, but the erosion of governmental power had done its work. Early leaders who espoused reducing use and curbing reproduction continued to be replaced by corporations until it was too late.

Once it was clear there was no easy fix to the issues, the more forward-thinking corporations created towns for their workers and began hoarding resources as much as possible. here they could use their clout to guarantee quality of life. Democracy was scrapped as a failure. After all, it was the corruption and greed of people and corporations that led to its own downfall.

As problems arose, people turned to religion. Religion around the world banded together to call their believers together for one purpose under one banner. During that time of upheaval, the religious leaders did what must be done, took control and led the people out of the darkness. The public was not trustworthy with their own rule, so the church graciously took over.

Their rule was just and absolute.

There was no dissent.

“You’ll need to dye your hair, but you can’t trust just anyone in nice clothing, so find someone who looks desperate and ask them”.

His grip bit into her arm as he dragged her, stumbling, down the hallway. She couldn’t understand what was going on. Why was he like this? Had something happened? What he was saying wasn’t registering at all. When he was mad previously he would punish her but never like this.

She had lived in this facility since she could remember. Cold hallways with lights recessed into the lower and upper walls led to cold rooms of similar appearances. The rooms she was permitted to enter were her bedroom and the classroom, which were joined directly by a door. Usually she couldn’t leave these rooms and her biochip would not open the door to the hall, however there were exceptions when she had medical appointments or other irregular occurrences.

She would be woken, given breakfast in her room, and dressed by a female attendant. The attendants were rotated from the personal staff of the clergy, and they would usually say only what was required to be said to her.

This morning was the same: “Please step into these shorts”.

Other than the attendant being someone new, the first sign something was different was the clothes. Usually there would be a grey tracksuit laid out, however today she was interested in the burly green-grey piece of clothing lying on the bed. The attendant averted her eyes as she took off her nightdress, looking pointedly at the door.

“Arms”.

The odd piece of clothing slid down her arms and over her head quickly. The dressing was rougher than it usually was, and the attendant glanced at the door again. Something unusual is definitely happening. Now that I look at it, the attendant is definitely not used to this. She isn’t wearing her uniform properly, and her hair is long and not tied up.
Breakfast was skipped completely by ‌the door being flung open. The teacher in his purple cape had arrived but replacing his usual indifferent stare was a zeal that had never been shown before. He locked his eyes onto her attendant.

“Put her shoes on. Now.”

He snapped as if angry, but instead of punishment, he turned towards the classroom door, speaking quietly to himself.
The attendant was shaking as she tried to place her feet into the socks and shoes provided. These were more rugged than her usual slippers, but didn’t seem new. The hooded jumper was the same, slightly faded.

With a bow he looked back at the attendant who froze at his expression.

“I-it-it’s done”

He never spoke more than he had to unless teaching, when he would unleash a tirade of verbosity. With a look and a word, he imparted the importance and seriousness of the situation.

“Come”.

A slight movement of his head in a sneer dismissed the attendant, who bowed and scurried out of the room.

The girl followed him through the door into the classroom. A square room similar to her bedroom in that one wall was glass overlooking a vast dark metropolis. It was still dark, which was not strange for this time of day and time of year, but it was worsened by the heavy low cloud cover.

The adjacent wall had a long interactive panel the entire length to bring up visuals and graphs for teaching, and the next wall had a hallway door. The only other furniture in the room was a small bookshelf, a treadmill, a desk and chair for her, and a desk and chair for the teacher.

She took her seat, then he turned to her standing over her desk.

The dull taps of rain on the glass continued as he sharply stared at her for a few moments.

He brought out a sheet of paper with a diagram on it, along with a small box with a handle.
“When I leave you, you’ll go straight, then left, then enter this grate. Follow the path and when you get to the end you’ll come to the barrier door. You should…”

A moment’s hesitation, rare for him.

“You should scan the bioreader and it will open. From there, you’ll cross the courtyard to the outer barrier. Noone will be manning the towers and it will be dark. Scan at the outer guard tower, not the main door, and leave through the side door here. Don’t open the main door.”

He looked back at her from looking at the sheet and there was a moment of softening in his eyes, nearly fear. She understood what he was telling her in the literal sense, but what did he mean when he said “When I leave you”? Is he going somewhere? What towers? Barrier? None of this was normal, even for the days when odd things happen. The single strangest thing was that any time she was out of this room, he was supposed to be with her.

He pushed the papers to her which she looked down at, perplexed. What are these for?

“You’ll need to hide and find your way until someone comes for you. There are some notes for you to follow about what to do next, but the most important thing to know is to avoid anyone from the church. Don’t trust any of us”.

His voice had an energy he rarely employed other than when talking about his favourite sections of scripture.

He barked his attendant’s name, Clara, who promptly appeared through the hallway door before closing it.

Clara took her hand with her eyes downward before pushing her hand flat against the desk, palm upward. She pressed her elbow against the desk before briefly meeting eyes with the girl. A look that said sorry, before looking away.

The teacher had opened the box which was lined with purple felt similar to his cloak. Inside there was a tool with the handle of a knife, but only a thin rod extending from the hilt about 10 centimetres. The handle was intricately decorated with words wrapped around it, but the rod was blank reflective metal.

He looked at it a moment before grabbing it. On his touch the rod glowed incandescent white. The air around the rod began to distort and glow itself, forming a thin blade. She recognised it as a molecular divider, something her teacher had taught her, however she had never seen it.

On recognition she immediately understood what would come next. She pulled at her arm, but Clara was impossibly strong. The girl said nothing. Though she would try anything to get out of what he was going to do, she also knew he would never bend to anything she had to say, and that was ingrained into her for the entire time he taught her. Punishment is a strong teacher.

He brought a small panel over her thumb and wrist which immediately lit up, outlining her arm and hand below, as well as a white rounded signal. It indicated what was called an “Element”. This was what linked her biology to the technology around, allowing her to activate doors, panels, and interact with augmented reality. It doubled as a health monitor and depending on the model, could house other programs.

Activating anything with the element didn’t require using that hand. It ingrained its communication with your body and biowaves so you could open a door with the other hand just as easily. The only time you needed to find the element was to remove it.

“Hold still Koshi”.