CODES

F O R T Y - F O U R

Six Months Later

Standing in Provincial Hall's main lobby, I pressed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. With my tongue pressed into my cheek, I watched the LED screen hanging above Laura's head. She continued to work, even after the issue with Polk, and crimes with Codes, she kept her employment; would be illegal to fire her.

She was innocent in all of this.

We all were.

"This morning, one hundred Province citizens leave the Restoration center after having received nano-bots to repair the damage done to their receptors." The news recapped the events of this morning. I had been the one to sign off on the group's discharge papers. Matthews volunteered to guard the front steps; many citizens were unhappy with the decision.

See, the group accepted becoming a half-Code, a procedure we knew would work because we'd done it to Clara, it saved her life; machines slid through her bloodstream and repaired damaged tissue.

The attack on the nation's receptors left many with ruptured ear drums. There were a few lucky people who happened to be far from the electronic blast. Some citizens... received the fatal blast and... didn't make it.

Guilt ate me alive some mornings. I told Xerses to press that button.

I caught Laura's unwavering stare. I pulled my gaze away from the video recording of those walking down the Provincial Hall steps and into the groups of those who protested against the unnatural procedure; it didn't matter that it saves lives.

"How are you doing?" I asked her, breaking the silence. I felt like it was an important question to ask these days. Over the past few months, tensions were high. The Province vowed to restore balance and help every citizen willing to accept the medical transition. And they offered handfuls, bucketfuls, hours of long, drawn-out apologies.

Those who claimed Peace rebelled against them.

Those who branded themselves Rebels wanted nothing to do with the robot-kind, and would never become one.

The rest of us, both Code and Half-Code, just needed that reassurance, a hug, and a loving reminder that even if it was hard, the world wasn't over and we were alive.

Laura tapped at a few keys, but I doubted she typed anything. She just needed a distraction. "I'm okay," she said, shooting me a weak smile. "Just trying to ignore the chants from out there." She nodded toward the front doors.

I glanced out the large windows. Three holograms were stationed beside the window but what could they do? There were groups outside with signs, shouting, stating their political views on what the Province decided to do. One couldn't become half-machine because it was against God. One wouldn't accept the procedure because they knew and felt it was all the Province's fault, to begin with.

Both sides were right, in their own ways. Becoming a machine wasn't natural and all of this was the Province's fault. If they hadn't feared the pasts of every Code and taken our memories from us against our will, there wouldn't have been the clutter within the Void, Polk wouldn't have been so reckless, and the machine built to destroy Codes wouldn't have been turned against the people.

Fear based on lies which built this Utopia... inevitably became the fall.

It's not over yet.

"Have they, um, said anything about those other Codes Hank Polk created?" Laura's voice pulled my attention away from the group pushing against the enforcement officers. For a second, I saw Matthews shouting.

"His army?" I gulped as I met Laura's gaze. Saying it out loud always struck a nerve. Polk had constructed a large number of machines with the intention of killing us all. And yet, instead of utilizing them, he didn't chase after them when they escaped; he remained with Zara, hoping to create the life for her he always promised.