Clockwork | ONC 2021 Entry (at first)

Prologue

This story is an entry to the Open Novella Contest 2021 in the Sci-Fi Category. It follows prompt 76 and is currently in the works. While the original prompt was not mine, the writing is, and how I've adapted it. Do not steal my work without my explicit permission.

Thanks for reading.

-

Read while listening to the music above.

Tick tock,

Tick tock.

The sound reverberates throughout the city, sending waves of unsettlement down my spine. It comes from the world clock; headquarters to the government of Chrono, who are in charge of the clockwork system that rules over our lives and places our worth above our heads as a permanent tattoo. It's the same system my father fell victim to, and the very same system I seek to destroy.

Time is always iminent in our lives. But with the clockwork system, every second of our lives is analyzed and carefully thought out. There are four sectors in the system--numbers that are given to you based on the hour of your birth. Citizens born within the hours of 1-3 are considered the highest rank, while those born from 10-12 are in the lowest ranks. I was born at 6:59, merely a minute before there is the cut-off between the higher classes and lower classes. But many others aren't as lucky.

Those in the lower rankings are forced to complete laborious work to be able to afford the bare minimum of survival, and those with families are often full of malnutrition and under-fed. The lowest class are treated as less than human; often captured as slaves and over their heads in poverty.

This is why I seek to remove the system over our heads, and allow citizens to have an equal chance at a proper life. Our rebel forces are small, but they're mighty and growing. One day, soon, we'll take over the government and rid this world of this unjust system.