It's 2141. Clones have taken over as the dominant species. Using brain nanochips to surveil thoughts and actions, they have pushed traditional humans down to a status of low-class workers in a discriminatory dystopia.
A nineteen-year-old aspiring me...
"Are you kidding me?! K? One of us?! Not bloody likely!" Sigi didn't like the idea, probably because he might've hated K's guts. They were sworn enemies in the hockey court, but that didn't mean they should be so outside of it.
"Then, I don't think that Amanita's girls have got good intentions on the guy," I concluded trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together but failing at it.
"I don't like this one bit. Let's go outside."
We rushed outside to check whether we could still see them, but everybody was gone. We were alone.
"Damn!" Sigi exclaimed in a foul mood.
The soft, cool air of the night greeted us gently. His tense tendons were showing under his tight-fitting, white T-shirt.
"We should go to Amanita and tell Agape about all this, Sigi. Besides, you're due to open in a few minutes. I'm worried. What if they attack you tonight again?"
"I'll be ready to fight back." His defiance and resolution were visible in the fierceness of his eyes.
"Agape doesn't want to sell Amanita. They'll keep coming back until she does, won't they?" I asked with concern.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he replied in a hurry. "You need to focus, Daphne. Defending Amanita is my thing. Getting the group's cohesion back should be Agape's. And yours is learning to meditate. It seems that you're still gonna need it now that we know why Ray got caught. It's pretty lame if you ask me. Frustrating. He got caught only because he was the first employee to attend his check-up, and that way he'd give Amanita a bad name... it's..."
"I know. It's appalling and scornful."
"Shall we meet tomorrow at the cellar?" he asked trying to regain his composure. At least then he was no longer angry, just low-spirited.
"How about after lunch, right before hockey training?"
"Deal."
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A few minutes later, Sigi and I were riding at an insane speed on his bike through Thalis' streets.
We needed to ride around the City Centre, taking a long detour through Dawn, Buenavista, and Mill neighbourhoods, since traditional humans weren't allowed to ride in it. Only some exceptions were made for bus drivers and the like. If we had ridden through it and got caught by one of those easily triggered police patrols, we could've got arrested.
To our surprise, we found some of those patrols in those three neighbourhoods, but they were too busy eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. The long arm of the law on one of its finest moments, I thought with sarcasm.
To be honest, they were also ignoring a large group of masked individuals, clad in black from head to toe, the very same who vandalised Amanita, the rebels' home, and Mr Beaumont's butcher shop. They were letting them act as they willed. Clones had copied many things from us, traditional humans – including our lack of ethics.
