Lucie felt a sharp flash of pain in her left hand. That's where it started. The alarm clock app in her Nanochip manipulated one's nervous system to signal flashes of sharp pain to the brain, to wake them up. The longer they waited, the worse the pain, and the more it spreaded. The throbbing moved into her wrists, and her veins popped out against Lucie's skin. She was awake now. She climbed out of bed, and turned off the bed's magnetic lifters. The pain receded, going the same way it came, ending in the nail of her left thumb. She took the elevator from the Sleeping Quarters to the Breakfast Quarters, where she met her new group of Students at table 818 for the first time.
"Hello," she murmered politely and smiled shyly, for this was her new group of Students. Lucie had placed very well on her monthly Assessment, so they moved her up to Year Eight, Class 18. That meant she was in the 18th most advanced Eighth Grade class, out of 20. Lucie sat down in an empty faux leather chair, and a service bot whirred to her seat.
"What would you like to drink today, miss?" it asked in its deep robot voice, heavy accented with monotone beeps.
"I'll have some Earl Grey tea, please" Lucie requested, wanting to impress her new class with my Olden knowledge. One of the tallest girls, probably the leader, looked at Lucie with inquiry, most likely judging whether she approved of her. Lucie sat up straight, hoping her hair looked okay. She heard from a girl who had just transferred to class 19 that class 18 was very formal, and elegance was the key to success. The leader seemed approving of Lucie, and she didn't see any scrutiny in the leader's expression, so Lucie assumed she was accepted in the group.
After breakfast, Lucie's new class headed over to our tutoring room, where they were scheduled to have their first lesson of the day, Mathematics. Miniature service bots carried foldable mock-mahogany chairs (real wood hadn't been used for 200 years) out to the center of the lushly padded room in a semi-circle. Everyone sat down in a designated seat, leaving Lucie to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room. A service bot whirred around her, confused; it was unaware there was a new arrival in 8-18. The apparent leader, which Lucie had confirmed, as her chair was taller and more elegant than everyone else's, looked at Lucie expressionlessly. She had obviously planned this, thought Lucie, to test me on how well I react. She stood up straight, and showed no expression.
Show no emotion, display no fear. Lucie's some-amount-of-greats-grandmother's Olden words of wisdom played back in Lucie's mind. She remembered the last time they spoke, on her grandmother's last Annual Birth Celebration. She had just celebrated her 242nd birthday, and her life had been winding down. She was one of the last remaining Elders born in the 20th century- 1998, to be exact. She had pressed her wrinkled hands into Lucie's, and whispered the quote Lucie kept on her bedroom walls. Soon after that, she died of old age.
After those happy thoughts, a second service bot hovered into the room, carrying another mock-mahogany chair in its storage pouch. It set the chair down, already unfolded for Lucie, at the end of the semi-circle. She sat down, the chair making a swishing sound as her uniform hit the nanofabric. On Lucie's left was an Asian boy with yellow-green eyes. (GenMod, most likely.) He smiled at Lucie and extended his hand, in an Olden way of greeting. With only a second's hesitation, Lucie took his hand and copied his motions. She kept shaking his hand until he pulled away, looking at her as if she had just asked him if he was an Elder.
"Hello, my name is Jake. You're Lucie, right?" He apparently ignored Lucie's ignorance of Olden greetings. His yellow eyes flashed gold. Not wanting to sound too excited, Lucie didn't reply. He studied her for a second with his changing eyes, then his eyes averted Lucie's as the Mathematics tutor appeared in the middle of the room via holoscreen.
The Math tutor scanned everyone in the room's eyechip, as a way of counting attendance. When she reached Lucie, she stopped. Her eyes flashed red as her data chip searched Lucie.
"Lucie Surrey. Welcome to our class. I'm Mrs. Smyth, like Smith but with a 'Y'. I am your mathematics and homeroom teacher. If you have any questions, I'm the one to ask. I hope you will enjoy your time in 818." Her accent was sharp and skipped over the "r"s, like an Olden British accent.
She introduced the class to Lucie, ending at Jake. "This is Shauna, Lucas, Isaac, Markus, Miranda, Klaira, our class President, Holly, Campbell, Stefanie, and Jake." She pointed to each person in turn. They all waved at Lucie politely, but without any true emotion.
After seeing to Lucie's well-being, she began the lesson by setting up an equation on the holoboard. As her eyescreen wrote on the board, the beginning of an algebra equation appeared. Lucie stifled a moan. It looked complex, more so than Lucie ever saw at 817. As their chairs turned around, every member of the class started working on the problem on their mini-holoboards. Lucie turned to her holoboard, which had the problem on its screen. She searched her datachip for information on this type of math problem, and in a second red text above her board gave her simple instructions. Huh, this is easy, she thought. She finished the problem.
30 problems and a lesson later, the buzzer vibrated, and the math teacher waved goodbye, and turned off her holoscreen. It flickered, then disappeared onto the floor projector.
Lucie watched as her class brought out snacks from convienient cup holders, and she looked at her own, to find a bag of white sugary treats. She dug in, scarfing up half of them before she realized she was supposed to be elegant. She smiled awkwardly with candy in her mouth as the class watched her with scrutinizing expressions.
The buzzer rang, signaling the break was over. Lucie turned to Jake, swallowing the last of the sugar candy. "What's our next class?"
His only answer was a shrug to the projector, which had just flickered to life, in the face of her second period teacher.
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YOU ARE READING
Timelock
Science FictionThey told us the world had finally achieved peace. But they lied to us. The world is at war. We didn't know. Why? The whole United States is covered in a Timelock trapping us in our own perfect society.
