Without Flight

Part 3: Dale September 22nd

I know the laws. I know the regulations. Love is outlawed beyond exception. Deemed far too dangerous for a society whose goal was to be efficient and technologically advanced. In the 1920's a scientist by the name of Arthur McGregor had isolated and perfected a compound by the name of B52-12. This compound had the unique ability to inhibit the genes in our DNA that allow us to develop the capacity to love. By the 1930's it was mandatory for every infant in our sector to be injected with the compound. It only took 120 years for our society to become what it is now—efficient to a fault. In the 50's the point system was set up as a way to measure us and divide us into those that mattered and those that didn't.

My mother and father did the best they could with what they had. They had signed up to be participants in a new drug experiment promising an offspring far brighter than themselves. Because this drug was new and experimental, they earned a fair amount of points for their participation. I was their success. I exceed all their expectations and was the poster child for a drug that is now largely beyond reach and reserved for the wealthiest in our sector.

My mother always told me that I was a way for them to earn pride in themselves. That I could accomplish all the things that their DNA would never allow them too. I was top of my class and a graduate student in the nanotechnology department. I knew, though, that for some it didn't matter how smart I was or how well I performed. I would always be the boy whose parents earned their points by taking a drug and whose intelligence had been artificially manufactured.

May: 12

Sarah:

I immediately know Dale is unlike the other males in our sector. He smiles too much and his frail eyes hold a wisdom that is far beyond what it should be. He asks if he can join me on my way to the café. I don't know what compels me to say yes. I should have said no. We talk for hours. He asks silly questions about growing up, what school was like, if I have any dreams. I eventually tell him I have to leave.

When I walk through the door of my unit I am unaware of the time or even the journey I took to get there.

"You're smiling an awful lot dear," my mother says as I come through the door. The sound of her voice sends me into a shock as it knocks me out of my own thoughts.

"Oh? It's nothing," I quickly reply.

"What happened to you today? Hmm? You always come home at five," she says softly while affectionately brushing my hair back.

"Why do you do that? I wish you wouldn't do that," I say shrugging her off coldly. "And I don't always come home at five. I had some extra studying to do so I stayed at the café longer," I lie. I can see that I have hurt her. I want to take it back but there are no words left inside of me. My mind is racing too fast for me to have any form of coherent speech. I tell myself I can't see Dale again. I won't see Dale again.